CU-5c-1963D-02 Cud

Description

Second documented cud for the 1963 Denver Mint Jefferson Nickel, CU-5c-1963D-02 preserves a major die break at the rim where a fractured piece of the die separated completely, creating a void in the die that filled with metal during striking to produce a raised featureless area along the coin's edge. Together with the first and third documented cuds for this date, the three-cud concentration for 1963-D reflects the substantial die wear experienced during Denver's large-scale nickel production in the early 1960s. The 1963-D Jefferson Nickel was produced in quantities exceeding 276 million pieces, part of the intense circulating coinage demand that preceded the silver coinage crisis of 1964-1965. The Jefferson Nickel's 75% copper, 25% nickel composition — unchanged since the series began in 1938 — is considerably harder than the alloys used for cents and silver coins, generating greater mechanical stress on the dies during high-speed striking. This stress concentrates at the die rim where the design boundary meets the collar, making rim fractures the most common form of major die failure. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, this variety is part of the systematic documentation of cud errors across the entire Jefferson Nickel series. By 1963, Schlag's obverse portrait and Monticello reverse had been in continuous production for twenty-five years, and the design's established tooling and production parameters were well understood — yet the fundamental metallurgical stresses of striking remained an unavoidable source of die failure.

External References