SKH-1c-2014-26 Spiked Head

Description

Twenty-six spiked head varieties cataloged for 2014 represents a significant jump from the fifteen documented for 2013, and SKH-1c-2014-26 captures the scope of die cracking that Philadelphia's cent presses generated that year. The escalating counts across Shield cent years — from eleven in 2010–2011 to fifteen in 2013 to twenty-six or more in 2014 — may reflect growing awareness among variety collectors as much as any change in die metallurgy or production practices. Roll searching, the primary method by which collectors discover these varieties, gained popularity through online forums and social media during this period, broadening the pool of eyes examining freshly minted cents. Each spiked head tells a story of metal fatigue in miniature: the die steel, hardened and tempered to withstand millions of impressions, eventually yields at its weakest geometric point. Lincoln's portrait, the highest relief element on the obverse, creates the deepest recess in the die and thus the greatest stress concentration at its rim boundary. Cuds on Coins provides the systematic framework for recording each distinct crack, and this twenty-sixth entry for 2014 underscores the variety's prevalence.

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