SKH-1c-1946-01 Spiked Head

Description

First documented spiked head variety on the 1946 Lincoln wheat cent, SKH-1c-1946-01 records a die cracking event on Victor David Brenner's obverse design during the first full post-war production year. Cataloged by the Cuds on Coins attribution service with the standard format — SKH for spiked head, 1c for cent, 1946 for date, and 01 for the first variety — this entry establishes the baseline documentation for spiked heads on this date. Philadelphia struck approximately 991.66 million wheat cents in 1946, an enormous production volume driven by post-war economic expansion and the return to civilian commerce after wartime rationing and metal conservation programs. The massive output subjected working dies to extraordinary cumulative stress, with each die pair responsible for hundreds of thousands of impressions before replacement. Spiked head varieties develop when the die steel fractures along the high-stress boundary where Lincoln's raised portrait meets the recessed field, creating a crack that fills with planchet metal during striking and appears as a spike-like projection extending from the bust into the adjacent field. The Lincoln cent's copper composition (95% copper, 5% tin/zinc for post-1944 issues) is softer than wartime steel or nickel compositions, placing somewhat less stress on dies per individual strike, but the sheer volume of 1946 production ensured that dies reached advanced stages of fatigue. First listed on June 1, 2016, this variety was among the earlier entries in the systematic spiked head catalog that Cuds on Coins has developed across the Lincoln cent series. Collectors should examine the area around Lincoln's portrait under 10x magnification, looking for raised projections that replicate consistently across specimens from the same die — distinguishing them from random contact marks that would vary between individual coins.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Louis A
• Cross reference: none. 06/01/2016.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References