LDB4-2005D-001 BIE Die Break Cent

Description

Designated LDB4-2005D-001, this BIE die break on a 2005 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial Cent is the first documented variety at position 4 for the date's catalog code sequence. The Hardy Index cross-reference is 4BL+, describing the break's morphological characteristics within the Hardy classification system. BIE die breaks on Memorial Cents from the 2000s represent the final generation of this variety type on a design that debuted in 1959 and concluded after 2008. The Memorial reverse designed by Frank Gasparro was nearing the half-century mark, and the obverse — still carrying Brenner's original 1909 Lincoln portrait with minor modifications — continued to produce the same inter-letter stress fractures that had generated BIE varieties for nearly a century. Each BIE break is unique to the working die on which it occurs, as die fractures are governed by microscopic variations in steel grain structure, heat treatment, and cumulative strike stress that differ from die to die. The LDB4 position places this break between a specific pair of letters in LIBERTY, consistent with the standardized location coding used across all Lincoln Cent BIE documentation.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Louis A
• Cross reference: Hardy Index 4BL+. 07/13/2015.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References