CU-25c-2006P-01R(CO) Cud

Description

Opening the catalog of documented cuds for the 2006 Philadelphia Mint Colorado State Quarter, CU-25c-2006P-01R(CO) is the first of an unusually large cluster of reverse rim failures recorded for this issue. Colorado entered the Union as the thirty-eighth state in 1876 — the Centennial State — and its quarter reverse, designed by Norman E. Nemeth, depicts the dramatic granite face of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park with evergreen trees and a banner reading "Colorful Colorado." The presence of five separately cataloged cuds from this single coin type is remarkable and suggests that the dies used for the Colorado quarter may have been particularly susceptible to rim stress, whether from die steel characteristics, production scheduling, or the specific relief profile of Nemeth's mountain landscape design. A reverse rim cud forms when a portion of the die rim fractures completely and separates, leaving a cavity that fills with metal during striking. As the first entry in what became a five-cud sequence, CU-25c-2006P-01R(CO) establishes the baseline for a die pair that evidently operated under conditions conducive to repeated rim failure.

External References