CU-5c-1952D-01 Rim Cud

Description

When a piece of the die rim breaks away completely during production, the resulting cavity fills with metal on every subsequent strike, creating a raised featureless blob at the coin's edge — and this first documented rim cud for the 1952 Denver Mint Jefferson Nickel preserves exactly that dramatic die failure. Unlike retained cuds where the broken section stays partially attached, or pre-cuds where only a crack has formed, a full cud represents the final stage of rim die deterioration: complete separation and loss of the fractured rim segment. The CU prefix in the Cuds on Coins catalog designates this as a full cud, distinguished from RCD (retained cud), PC (pre-cud), and IDB (interior die break) by the complete separation of the rim fragment. The 1952-D Jefferson Nickel was struck during a period of heavy Denver Mint nickel production, with Felix Schlag's original design in its fourteenth year of service. The reverse Monticello design's architectural detail provides context for identifying the cud's clock position relative to the building and lettering. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins with no additional cross-references, CU-5c-1952D-01 is the sole documented rim cud for this date and mint. Cud errors are prized by error coin collectors for their dramatic visual impact — the smooth, raised mass at the rim is unmistakable and represents one of the most visually obvious die errors that can occur during the minting process.

External References