CU-1C-2001-02 Cud

Description

Following closely behind the first cataloged break for the date, CU-1C-2001-02 documents the second confirmed rim cud on a 2001 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent. Each cud in the sequence represents a unique working die that failed during the year's production, and the fracture position on CU-1C-2001-02 differs from the -01 entry in both clock location and angular extent. Die steel used in early twenty-first-century cent production was engineered for durability, but the high striking speeds of modern coin presses — cycling at several hundred strokes per minute — subject dies to repeated compressive shock that eventually nucleates fatigue cracks along grain boundaries. When such a crack propagates to the die's rim and connects with another fracture line, the enclosed segment loses structural support and separates during operation. The coins struck thereafter carry the cud: a raised plateau of metal that flowed into the void left by the departed die fragment. Philadelphia's multi-billion-piece cent output in 2001 required continuous die rotation, and the presence of multiple cataloged cuds confirms the expected attrition pattern across a large population of working dies.

Attribution History

• Discovered by David Curfman
• CU-1C-2001-02
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References