CU-5c-1941S-02 Cud

Description

Produced at the San Francisco Mint in the final months before the United States entered World War II, this 1941-S Jefferson Nickel cud preserves a die failure from a pivotal historical moment. San Francisco's nickel production would change dramatically the following year when wartime silver-manganese "war nickels" replaced the standard copper-nickel composition from 1942 through 1945, making pre-war S-mint nickels like this 1941 issue the last of the original alloy before the emergency substitution. Cataloged as CU-5c-1941S-02 by Cuds on Coins, this second documented cud for the date displays the characteristic raised featureless mass at the rim where a section of the die fractured and separated. Felix Schlag's Jefferson Nickel design had been in production for only four years when this die failed, and the San Francisco Mint's role as a secondary production facility meant lower mintage figures compared to Philadelphia. The Jefferson Nickels Original Design 1938-2003 series encompasses this early pre-war period. Die breaks at the rim occur when accumulated striking stress exceeds the tensile strength of the die steel at its thinnest point — the edge.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Fred Weinberg
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References