CU-5c-1941-01 Cud

Description

Listed in the Cuds on Coins catalog with the cross-reference JNC-41-1, this cud on the 1941 Jefferson Nickel represents a major rim die break from the early years of Felix Schlag's Jefferson portrait design, which had debuted just three years earlier in 1938. Cuds form when fatigue fractures propagate through the die steel at or near the rim, eventually causing a segment to break away entirely. The resulting void in the die means that when a planchet is struck, metal flows into the missing section unconstrained, producing a raised, shapeless mass that obliterates whatever design elements — letters, devices, or rim denticles — occupied that area. The JNC-41-1 designation as the first (and possibly only) cataloged cud for the 1941 date suggests this die failure was an isolated event rather than part of a pattern of rim fractures across multiple dies. Philadelphia struck approximately 203.3 million nickels in 1941, the last full year of peacetime production before wartime demands led to the silver-content "war nickels" beginning in late 1942. The 1941 nickel's standard 75% copper / 25% nickel composition and 5-gram weight are the same specifications used from the denomination's inception in 1866 through to the present day (excluding the 1942-1945 wartime alloy). Cuds from pre-war Jefferson Nickels are less commonly encountered than those from later decades, partly due to lower survival rates in collectible condition and partly because systematic cud cataloging intensified in more recent decades. The raised blob characteristic of this error type should extend from the rim inward, distinguishing it from interior die breaks that remain surrounded by intact design.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Fred Weinberg
• Cross reference number: JNC-41-1
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References