SKH-1c-1984-01 Spike Head

Description

A die crack radiating outward from Lincoln's head creates the visually arresting spike that gives SKH-1c-1984-01 its name on the 1984 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent. Spiked head varieties form when stress concentrations in the die steel around the deeply recessed portrait cavity cause cracks to initiate at the head and propagate outward into the adjacent field. On the struck coin, these cracks appear as raised lines extending from the top or side of Lincoln's head like a pointed protrusion, an effect dramatic enough to catch a collector's eye without magnification. The visual immediacy of spiked heads has made them one of the most popular niches in Lincoln cent error collecting — they are easy to identify, visually distinctive, and satisfying to discover in circulation finds. SKH-1c-1984-01 is the first spiked head documented for the 1984 Philadelphia cent, cataloged by Cuds on Coins with a discovery date of November 21, 2016. Struck on copper-plated zinc planchets composed of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, weighing 2.5 grams and measuring 19mm, from a mintage of 8,151,079,000 — a production volume that virtually guarantees undiscovered specimens remain in circulation.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Earl M
• Cross reference: none. 11/21/2016.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References