SKH-1c-2021-06 Spiked Head

Description

The concept of a die biography—tracking the full productive output of a single working die from its first strike to its retirement—has become an organizing framework for advanced variety research, and SKH-1c-2021-06 is one chapter in the biography of the die that produced it. A die biography for a Lincoln cent die might span hundreds of thousands or even millions of strikes, during which the die surface evolves from sharp and fully detailed to worn, cracked, and eventually retired. The spiked head stage represents a specific episode in that biography: the moment when a crack in the portrait area reached sufficient depth and width to allow metal to be pushed through during striking. By cataloging SKH-1c-2021-06 alongside other varieties from the same 2021 production run, researchers accumulate the evidence needed to sketch at least partial die biographies—connecting the dots between early, mid, and late die state specimens documented across different collectors and submissions.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Erik Gilchrist
• Cross reference: none. 03/28/2022.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References