SKH-1c-2016-12 Spiked Head

Description

Twelfth spiked head variety in the 2016-P Lincoln Shield cent census, SKH-1c-2016-12 documents a portrait-area die crack from the seventh production year of the Shield reverse design at Philadelphia. At position twelve, this variety sits comfortably in the upper-mid range of the 2016-P census, which eventually exceeded seventeen documented spiked heads. Philadelphia's 2016 cent output of approximately 4.67 billion pieces — among the highest annual volumes in cent history — produced the die consumption rate necessary to generate a substantial spiked head catalog. The spiked head phenomenon has become one of the defining die variety types of the Shield cent era, with variety hunters routinely identifying new examples across every production year since the design's 2010 debut. The formation mechanism is fundamentally a story of mechanical fatigue: the incuse channels that form Victor David Brenner's Lincoln portrait in the working die are separated by narrow ridges of tool steel, and these ridges represent stress concentration points where cyclic loading from repeated striking initiates cracks. Once a crack opens, each subsequent strike forces planchet metal — the copper-plated zinc alloy used since 1982 — into the gap, building a raised projection on finished coins. The projection's position on Lincoln's portrait, its direction of extension, and its approximate dimensions are determined by the crack's geometry on the specific working die, making each spiked head positionally unique. Lyle Okerlund's Union Shield reverse, featuring the bold geometric shield design with scroll banner and national motto, provides the reverse design context. The Cuds on Coins service catalogs each variety and provides reference imagery for attribution. Collectors seeking to confirm SKH-12 should use 10-15x magnification to locate the spike on Lincoln's portrait and compare its positional attributes against published diagnostics, distinguishing it from the eleven preceding and five or more subsequent varieties in the 2016-P census.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Jon Rhodes
• Cross reference: none. 04/23/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References