SKH-1c-1951S-01 Spiked Head

Description

By 1951, San Francisco cent production was entering terminal decline — the facility would cease Lincoln Cent coinage entirely after 1955, not resuming until the coin shortage crisis of the 1960s. SKH-1c-1951S-01, assigned Cohen Index 51S-62, captures a spiked head die crack from this narrowing window of S-mint output. The raised spike projecting from Lincoln's portrait formed through progressive die fatigue: a crack developing at the high-relief stress point atop the head opened a channel for planchet metal to fill under striking pressure. These late-era S-mint Wheat Cent varieties rank among the scarcest spiked heads by mint mark, because San Francisco's low original mintage translates into fewer surviving examples of any given die variety. Collectors specializing in S-mint Lincoln Cents from the early 1950s recognize that each passing year brought reduced production, making varieties like Cohen 51S-62 increasingly difficult to locate as the calendar approached San Francisco's 1955 cessation of cent coinage.

Attribution History

• Discovered by JC Stevens
• Cross reference number: Cohen Index 51S-62. 06/03/2016.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References