SKH-1c-2005-03 Spiked Head

Description

Third spiked head cataloged for the 2005 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Memorial Cent, this variety occupies an interesting chronological position in the Memorial Cent's production history. The 2005-P was struck during a period of transition for United States cent design — just four years before the 2009 Lincoln bicentennial reverses and five years before the permanent Shield reverse would replace the Memorial. Collectors examining 2005-P cents at the time of this variety's documentation on March 21, 2019 by Cuds on Coins were searching coins from a design type whose final chapter had already been written. The die clash mechanism responsible for this spiked head is the same process that generated varieties across all Memorial Cent dates from 1959 through 2008: a planchet feed failure allows the press to cycle empty, the obverse and reverse dies contact each other, and the Lincoln Memorial reverse's design transfers into the obverse die. The columns, steps, and entablature of the Memorial produce recognizable impressions that form the characteristic raised spike on Lincoln's portrait. Three documented spiked heads for the 2005-P represent a moderate die clash rate, consistent with what might be expected from a date with billions of coins produced but without the extraordinary collector attention that elevated 1995-P and 1996-P tallies to their exceptional levels. Each of the three entries documents a unique die pair and a unique clash geometry, with attribution requiring comparison of spike position and angle against published reference photographs maintained in the Cuds on Coins database.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Alan English
• Cross reference: none. 03/21/2019.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References