SKH-1C-2023-01 Spike Head

Description

Inaugurating the spike head census for the 2023 Philadelphia Lincoln Shield cent, SKH-1C-2023-01 opens the die crack catalog for this recent production year the die crack census for this recent production year. As the initial entry, this variety establishes the beginning of what will likely grow into a multi-specimen census as additional 2023-P spike heads are submitted for attribution. The Lincoln Shield cent design — Victor David Brenner's Lincoln obverse paired with Lyndall Bass's Union Shield reverse — has been in continuous production since 2010, and every year of production has generated documented spike head varieties as a predictable consequence of die fatigue in high-volume coining operations. Spike heads occur when fatigue cracks develop at the crown of Lincoln's head, where the fine hair detail creates stress concentration points that initiate fracture under the repeated cyclic loading of production striking. The crack propagates outward through the die field toward the rim, creating a recessed channel in the die that fills with metal during each subsequent strike and produces the raised horn-like projection on finished coins. The Philadelphia Mint's annual cent production consistently exceeds three billion pieces, requiring thousands of obverse dies over the course of a production year, and the percentage of those dies that develop spike-producing cracks provides a natural sampling of die steel durability under production conditions. As the first spike head documented for 2023, SKH-1C-2023-01 may represent one of the earliest die failures in that year's production sequence, or it may simply be the first discovery submitted for catalog registration. Collectors can identify spike heads at low magnification — typically 3-5x is sufficient — by examining the area above Lincoln's hair line for any raised protrusion extending toward the rim that does not appear on normal specimens.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chris Salling
• SKH-1C-2023-01
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References