SKH-1c-1946D-01 Spiked Head

Description

With peacetime production resuming in 1946, the Mint restored the standard 95% copper with 5% tin-and-zinc bronze alloy for Lincoln Cents after three years of wartime compositions — steel in 1943, shell casing brass in 1944-45. SKH-1c-1946D-01, bearing Cohen Index 46D-54, documents a spiked head die crack on a Denver Mint cent from this transition year. The raised spike formed as a progressive crack allowed planchet metal to flow upward into the fissure during striking. Returning to the original bronze meant that die behavior reverted to pre-war norms, and collectors comparing spiked heads across the wartime-to-peacetime boundary can observe how cracks propagated differently through dies striking different substrate metals. Denver production in 1946 was robust as the economy shifted from military output to consumer goods, ensuring die varieties like this one entered circulation in quantity. Cohen 46D-54 provides the systematic attribution needed to distinguish this die pair from other 1946-D varieties.

Attribution History

• Discovered by JC Stevens
• Cross reference number: Cohen Index 46D-54. 02/25/2017.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References