SKH-1c-1952-06 Spiked Head

Description

Sixth in the spiked head census for the 1952 Lincoln wheat cent, SKH-1c-1952-06 continues the extensive documentation of die cracking events on this Philadelphia issue. Cataloged by the Cuds on Coins attribution service using their standard naming convention — SKH for spiked head, 1c for cent, 1952 for date, and 06 for the sixth identified variety — this entry demonstrates that at least six independent obverse dies developed portrait-boundary fractures during the 1952 production year. Victor David Brenner's Lincoln portrait, unchanged since its 1909 debut, features the right-facing bust with deeply sculpted hair and beard detail that concentrates mechanical stress in the adjacent die steel at the relief transition boundary. Philadelphia struck approximately 186.86 million wheat cents in 1952, generating the die throughput needed to accumulate this many independent cracking events across the working die population. Spiked head varieties occupy a specific niche in the die failure taxonomy — they represent fractures that originate at the portrait's edge and extend outward into the field, as opposed to die cracks that run between design elements or cuds that involve rim-area separation. The spike projection on struck coins manifests as a raised, often tapered line extending from Lincoln's bust into the surrounding field, with its precise character depending on the fracture geometry, the die state at the time of striking, and the planchet metal's flow characteristics under pressure. First listed on April 2, 2017, this variety was documented during the same period as several other 1952 spiked heads, suggesting a concentrated research effort on this date. Collectors should examine the portrait boundary under 10x magnification, paying attention to the forehead, crown, and nape areas where the relief differential between the portrait and field is greatest and where stress-induced fractures most commonly develop.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• Cross reference: none. 04/02/2017.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References