CU-1c-1888-01 Rim Cud

Description

Approaching the series' thirtieth year of production, the 1888 Indian Head Cent bearing cud CU-1c-1888-01 was struck when James B. Longacre's design had become one of the most familiar images in American commerce. The mintage of approximately 37.5 million pieces placed it in the mature production range of the late 1880s, a period when the design had reached full refinement and the Philadelphia Mint's die-making capabilities were well established. The rim cud formed through die rim fracture — a structural failure where a segment of the die's edge broke away during production — and the resulting void filled with planchet metal on subsequent strikes, creating the raised, featureless area diagnostic of cud varieties. As the sole cataloged cud for 1888, CU-1c-1888-01 suggests either that die rim failures were uncommon for this date or that surviving examples have not been widely reported. The 1888 Indian Head Cent is also notable for the 1888/7 overdate variety, one of the most sought-after entries in the entire series, though the cud documented here is an entirely separate die failure unrelated to the overdate.

External References