CU-25c-1982P-04R Cud

Description

Fourth reverse rim cud documented for the 1982-P Washington quarter, CU-25c-1982P-04R joins three previously cataloged reverse cuds (including CU-25c-1982P-03R) in establishing 1982 as a notably prolific year for quarter die rim failures at Philadelphia. No cross-references with other attribution systems exist for this variety. The 1982-P quarter had a mintage of 500.9 million pieces, which required a substantial number of die pairs running simultaneously across Philadelphia's coining presses. Four documented reverse cuds from a single date suggests either that the reverse die steel batch used that year contained material susceptible to rim fracture, that striking pressures were set at a level that accelerated rim wear, or simply that the sheer volume of production generated enough die casualties to populate a meaningful census. John Flanagan's heraldic eagle reverse, in continuous use since 1932, had been reproduced on dies for half a century by 1982, and the production of working dies from master hubs was a well-established routine. Yet even mature production processes cannot eliminate all variation in die quality, and the rim -- where maximum shear stress concentrates during each strike -- remains the most failure-prone zone on any die regardless of how refined the manufacturing process becomes. Collectors pursuing 1982-P quarter cuds can now assemble a small set of at least four distinct reverse rim breaks, each representing a unique die failure at a specific rim position, and the visual variety within this micro-set demonstrates how the same failure mechanism produces distinctly different results depending on where the fracture occurs.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Grant5842 on ebay
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References