CU-25c-1997P-01R Rim Cud

Description

Cataloged as CU-25c-1997P-01R by the Cuds on Coins documentation project and first reported on February 1, 2018, this rim cud on the 1997 Philadelphia Washington Quarter resulted from a catastrophic die fracture along the coin's rim — a failure mode where a wedge-shaped piece of the hardened steel working die broke away from the die face at the rim junction, leaving a void in the die cavity that produced a raised, featureless blob of metal on every coin struck after the break occurred. The "R" suffix in the catalog designation indicates this is a reverse rim cud, distinguishing it from obverse die breaks on the same issue. No independent cross-references have been established. The 1997-P Washington Quarter was among the final issues of John Flanagan's original Washington Quarter design before the State Quarters program commenced in 1999 — the heraldic eagle reverse that had served continuously since 1932 was about to give way to fifty unique state-specific designs. Rim cuds form when the extreme edge of a die experiences metal fatigue from repeated striking, stress concentration at the die's peripheral boundary, or microscopic defects in the die steel that propagate under the enormous pressure of the coining press (approximately 35-55 tons for quarter production). Once the die fragment separates, the void fills with planchet metal during striking, creating the characteristic smooth, raised cud that interrupts the coin's normal rim and adjacent design. Struck in copper-nickel clad composition (5.67 grams, 24.26 mm diameter), this quarter carried the P mintmark on the obverse. The cud is visible to the unaided eye as a raised blob at the rim, though magnification clarifies its boundaries and confirms it as a genuine die break rather than a struck-through foreign object.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• Cross reference: none. 02/01/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References