CU-1C-1944S-02 Cud

Description

Second documented cud for the 1944 San Francisco Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, CU-1C-1944S-02 records a rim fracture during the first year the Mint transitioned from steel planchets to recycled brass shell casings. Cross-referenced under its catalog designation by Cuds on Coins, this variety formed when a die rim section broke away entirely, creating a void that filled with the shell casing brass alloy — approximately 70% copper and 30% zinc — under striking pressure. San Francisco produced approximately 282.76 million cents in 1944, a substantial increase over its 1943 steel cent output, as the Mint expanded production to rebuild circulating coin inventories depleted during the steel cent year. The shell casing brass composition was softer than the 1943 steel but slightly different from the standard pre-war bronze, and the recycled military brass may have contained trace elements from the original ammunition manufacturing process. The San Francisco facility, which had been producing coins since 1854, processed these recycled shell casings into planchets that were then struck into cents bearing Victor David Brenner's Lincoln portrait and the Wheat Ears reverse. Cuds on the 1944-S date are less numerous than the extraordinary counts from 1943, reflecting the return to a copper-based composition that was kinder to die surfaces, but rim fractures continued to occur as a normal consequence of high-volume coin production, and CU-1C-1944S-02 documents one such failure.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Charity & Chris Welch
• CU-1C-1944S-02
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References