CU-1C-1983D-02 Cud

Description

The second major die break cataloged on the 1983 Denver Lincoln Memorial cent, CU-1C-1983D-02 records a cud from a different die than the first census entry, representing an independent catastrophic fracture event within Denver's enormous 1983 cent production run. Each cud in a given date's census must originate from a distinct die — confirmed through positional analysis and die marker comparison — ensuring that the census accurately reflects the total number of individual die failures rather than multiple specimens from a single broken die. On the 1983-D copper-plated zinc planchet, the cud manifests as a raised featureless area where a fragment of the die separated completely, preventing the die from imparting any design detail to that portion of the struck coin. The resulting blank plateau contrasts sharply with the surrounding detailed relief of Lincoln's portrait or inscriptions, making cuds among the most visually dramatic of all die errors. Denver's high-speed coining presses subjected each die pair to millions of impacts, and thermal cycling, metal fatigue, and occasional inclusions within the die steel all contributed to the fracture events that produced varieties like this one. The 1983-D cud census remains modest compared to the extensive Philadelphia registries of the same era. Attribution by Cuds on Coins.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Marvin L
• CU-1C-1983D-02
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References