RCD-25c-1965-02R Retained Cud

Description

Following the sole prior entry for this date, RCD-25c-1965-02R documents a second retained cud on the reverse of a 1965 Washington Quarter — another clad-composition specimen from the inaugural year of the copper-nickel sandwich that replaced 90% silver. The 1965 quarter is visually identical to its silver predecessor, carrying John Flanagan's portrait of George Washington on the obverse and the heraldic eagle on the reverse, but the edge reveals the telltale copper-colored stripe of the clad core. With no mint marks used from 1965 through 1967, production from all three facilities was intentionally blended, making it impossible to determine whether this die operated at Philadelphia, Denver, or San Francisco. The retained cud indicates a die rim fracture where the broken segment stayed partially in place, and the second entry for 1965 suggests that the transition to clad planchets did not eliminate rim fracture as a failure mode — the different striking characteristics of the new composition may have introduced stress patterns not previously encountered. Collectors of Washington Quarter die varieties value early clad issues for their transitional significance.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• Cross reference number: none. 04/01/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References