CU-1C-2000-01 Cud

Description

Cross-referenced as JCc-2000_006&7 in the James Currier cent tracking system and carrying an October 2013 catalog date, CU-1C-2000-01 records the first documented cud on the 2000 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Memorial Cent. The dual reference number (006&7) in the JCc system suggests this cud may span or relate to two previously noted die crack positions that ultimately progressed into a full rim break — a common evolutionary pathway where hairline die cracks at the rim gradually widen under repeated striking stress until a segment of die steel fractures completely and separates, creating the raised featureless mass that defines a cud. Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse, featuring the columned memorial building with a tiny seated Lincoln figure visible between the central columns, provides the reverse design context on which this break occurred. The 2000-P Lincoln cent was struck during the final decade of the Memorial reverse design (retired after 2008 in favor of the Bicentennial and Shield reverses), and Philadelphia's substantial millennial-year cent production consumed a large population of working dies. Copper-plated zinc planchets, the standard cent composition since 1982, present different stress characteristics to the die compared to the pre-1982 solid copper and copper-alloy planchets, and the harder zinc core can contribute to accelerated die wear at the rim. The "01" suffix confirms this as the first cud cataloged for the 2000 Philadelphia date, establishing the baseline entry for a year that marks both the turn of the millennium and the ongoing era of high-volume cent production where die failures accumulate across enormous mintage figures.

Attribution History

• CU-1C-2000-01; number: JCc-2000_006&7. 10/01/2013.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References