CU-1c-1898-02 Rim Cud

Description

The second rim cud documented for the 1898 Indian Head Cent, CU-1c-1898-02 records another die rim failure from a year that saw the Philadelphia Mint producing nearly fifty million cents to supply an economy surging with wartime and industrial demand. Each cud variety traces to a distinct working die, and two cataloged cuds for 1898 confirms that multiple dies experienced the rim fractures necessary to produce these distinctive error features. Die rim failures occur when repeated striking stress — hundreds of thousands of impacts per die — weakens the die steel at its edge until a fragment separates. The bronze composition (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) produced moderate striking pressure, but the cumulative effect over a die's service life inevitably created opportunities for rim fracture. The 1898 date falls in the high-mintage era of the Indian Head series, when annual output regularly exceeded forty million pieces and Philadelphia was the sole production facility for this denomination. CU-1c-1898-02 is distinguished from CU-1c-1898-01 by the location and extent of the rim break, with each cud occupying a different position on the coin's periphery.

External References