CU-1C-1972D-07 Rim Cud

Description

Final entry in the 1972-D cud catalog, CU-1C-1972D-07 carries the rim cud designation — joining CU-1C-1972D-04 as one of two varieties in this date's sequence specifically identified as confined to the rim zone rather than extending broadly into the die's design field. As the seventh and last documented cud for the 1972-D Lincoln Memorial cent, this entry completes the known die break census for a date whose production volume made it fertile ground for capturing the full spectrum of die failure modes. The rim cud classification indicates a break geometry where the fracture plane ran relatively parallel to the die face rather than diving deeply inward, separating a shallow shell of rim material without removing the deeper die steel that carries the major design elements. This shallow failure geometry produces a narrower, more arc-like raised area on the struck coin compared to the broader, more irregular masses created by full-depth cuds that penetrate into lettering or design motifs. The complete 1972-D cud census — seven entries spanning both rim-confined and field-penetrating breaks across seven distinct working dies — serves as a representative sample of die failure behavior under the production conditions prevailing at Denver in the early 1970s, when high-speed coinage presses subjected die steel to the relentless cyclic loading that modern metallurgical science recognizes as the primary driver of fatigue failure. For collectors assembling a comprehensive 1972-D variety set, the cuds complement the hub-doubling and mintmark varieties by documenting the endpoint of die service life rather than the manufacturing anomalies introduced during die preparation.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• CU-1C-1972D-07
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References