CU-25c-1985P-10 Rim Cud

Description

Tenth documented rim cud for the 1985 Philadelphia Mint Washington Quarter, this variety represents a notable concentration of die rim failures for a single date and mint — ten cuds from one year's production indicates either particularly demanding press conditions or a batch of die steel prone to rim fracture. The Cuds on Coins catalog designates this as CU-25c-1985P-10, systematically documenting each unique rim break occurrence. A rim cud develops when a section of the die edge fractures completely, with the broken die fragment either falling away or being ejected during press operation, leaving a void in the die face that fills with planchet metal during subsequent strikes. The resulting raised, featureless blob obliterates whatever design element occupied the area above the fracture, and each cud is unique in its position, size, and the amount of design it destroys. Philadelphia struck approximately 775.8 million quarters in 1985 using John Flanagan's Washington Quarter design in clad composition, and the enormous volume of production consumed large numbers of die pairs. Die rims experience the highest stress concentrations during striking because the rim is where the die's field meets the collar, and the metal flow during the strike is most turbulent at this boundary. Ten documented cuds from a single year and mint facility provides a statistical window into die failure rates, suggesting that approximately one in every several hundred die pairs produced a cud significant enough to be identified and cataloged by researchers.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Keith Christenson
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References