CU-25c-1986P-01 Cud

Description

Cataloged by Cuds on Coins as the first documented cud on the 1986 Philadelphia Washington quarter, CU-25c-1986P-01 records a major die break at the rim where a fragment of the die steel fractured and separated entirely, leaving a void in the die face. When the broken die continued to strike planchets, the area corresponding to the missing fragment produced a raised, featureless blob of metal — the cud — extending from the coin's rim inward over a portion of the design. No cross-references to other error catalogs have been established for this variety. Cuds are among the most visually dramatic die errors because they obliterate a section of the design entirely, replacing intricate engravings with a smooth, amorphous mass that stands in stark contrast to the surrounding details. The 1986 Philadelphia quarter saw a mintage of over 551 million pieces, and die breaks severe enough to produce cuds typically occur late in a die's production life when accumulated stress from hundreds of thousands of strikes causes the steel to fail. How long a broken die continues in service depends on the severity of the break and the mint's quality control procedures — some cuds appear on only a handful of coins before the die is pulled, while others are found in sufficient numbers to suggest extended use. John Flanagan's Washington portrait and heraldic eagle reverse were in their fifty-fourth year of continuous use by 1986, a familiarity that made die anomalies relatively easy for press operators and inspectors to spot.

Attribution History

• Discovered by chuck9999 on ebay
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References