SKH-1c-1973D-03 Spiked Head

Description

Attributed on March 7, 2017, by the Cuds on Coins team, SKH-1c-1973D-03 is the third cataloged spiked head for the 1973 Denver Lincoln Memorial cent. No cross-references to other attribution services have been established. The catalog sequence skips entry -02, meaning this is effectively the second unique spiked head die documented after SKH-1c-1973D-01. The March 2017 attribution date falls just one month after the second cross-reference date noted for the -01 entry (February 2017), suggesting an active period of 1973-D searching and submission among collectors in early 2017. The spiked head on this variety originates from a die fatigue crack at Lincoln's portrait apex — the same failure mechanism that produces all entries in the SKH catalog class — but the specific geometry of the spike distinguishes it from the -01 entry. Key diagnostic differences include the angle at which the spike projects from the head, its length, its width at the base, and the precise location on the scalp from which it emerges. These parameters are determined by the unique crystal structure and grain-boundary orientation of each individual die at the point where the fatigue crack nucleated and propagated. Denver's production of approximately 3.55 billion cents in 1973 required an enormous number of obverse dies, each subject to the same repetitive-impact stresses that drive portrait-apex cracking, making multiple spiked head varieties from this date an expected outcome of the production volume.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Tim Gebhart
• Cross reference: none. 03/07/2017.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References