CU-1C-1946-01R Cud

Description

First cataloged reverse cud for the 1946 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, CU-1C-1946-01R opens the cud registry for the first full peacetime year following World War II. Philadelphia struck approximately 991 million cents in 1946, an enormous production run reflecting the pent-up demand for circulating coinage as the economy transitioned from wartime controls to consumer-driven growth. That volume required extensive die usage, and CU-1C-1946-01R documents the first instance where a 1946-P reverse die experienced a rim fracture severe enough to produce a cud — a raised featureless mass of metal at the coin's edge where a section of the die broke away. The "01R" designation in the Cuds on Coins numbering system indicates this was the first reverse cud documented for the date, regardless of when during production the actual die failure occurred. Cuds form through progressive fatigue: hundreds of thousands of strikes concentrate stress at the die rim, the thinnest section of the die body, until a crack nucleates and propagates through the full thickness. Once the fractured fragment separates, every subsequent coin carries the raised blob until quality control personnel detect the defect and replace the die. The 1946 date falls within the immediate post-war period when the Mint was also adjusting production of nickels back to the standard copper-nickel alloy after the wartime silver composition, making this a year of significant operational transition across multiple denominations.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• CU-1C-1946-01R
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References