SKH-1c-1971D-20 Spiked Head

Description

Penultimate entry in the documented spiked head catalog for the 1971-D Lincoln Memorial cent, SKH-1c-1971D-20 was recorded on January 4, 2018 — the same date as SKH-18 and SKH-19, part of a final cluster of discoveries that brought the catalog to its current extent. Attributed by Cuds on Coins, twenty cataloged spiked head varieties for a single date and mintmark represents an extraordinary level of documentation that few other Lincoln Memorial cent dates approach. The significance extends beyond the 1971-D date itself into the broader understanding of die crack failure modes in U.S. coinage: this catalog constitutes a natural experiment in fatigue crack behavior, with twenty separate dies subjected to similar production conditions each developing head-area cracks whose individual geometries provide data points about how crack propagation varies across a population of nominally identical tools. Collectors pursuing SKH-1c-1971D-20 specifically should note that the crack's diagnostic features — its origin point on Lincoln's head, its direction of extension into the field, and its length — must be compared not only against the immediately adjacent SKH-19 and SKH-21 but against the full twenty-one-entry catalog to ensure accurate attribution. The high mintage of the 1971-D cent means undiscovered specimens from each cataloged spiked head die likely remain in circulated populations, awaiting recognition by an attentive examiner.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Bob Byrd
• Cross reference: none. 01/04/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References