u/FirefighterQueasy590

Continuing the die error documentation project. This 1865 Indian Head cent has two rim cuds on the reverse, one left of twelve o'clock and one right.

A rim cud forms when a section of the die edge fractures and separates completely. Once the die fragment is gone, planchet metal flows into the void during striking, creating a raised, featureless mass on the coin. Here, two separate fragments broke away on opposite sides of the same clock position.

This is also a Fancy 5 variety — the scarcer of two date logotypes for 1865. The Fancy 5 has tall, ornate serifs on the final digit, versus the more common Plain 5 with a shorter, simpler form.

Two cuds flanking the same position suggests the die was fracturing symmetrically — stress concentrating at the weakest point of the rim and cracking in both directions. It's a coin struck by a die in its final working stage.

Not in the standard references. Now catalogued.

Continuing the die error documentation project. This 1870 Indian Head cent has a multi-impression die clash on the reverse — meaning the obverse and reverse dies struck each other without a planchet between them, and they did it more than once.

Two separate transfer zones are visible:

1. The forehead and nose of the Indian portrait are clashed under the C in CENT

2. Feathers from the headdress appear inside the right wreath

Multiple clash impressions on a single die tell us the die pair kept colliding before the Mint caught the problem and replaced or resurfaced the dies. Every coin struck from this pair carries the evidence.

The 1870 Indian Head cent had a mintage of about 5.3 million. Mid-range year, but die clashes like this aren't mintage-dependent — they're production incidents. The standard references don't catalogue these multi-transfer variants, which is why NumisDex is building the record.

Not in any reference. Now catalogued.

This one is interesting because it shows the stage of die deterioration that comes right before a cud forms.

On the reverse from 4 to 7 o'clock, cracks climb from the rim inward into the wreath and meet in the center, forming a distinctive field-goal shape. That's a pre-cud — the fracture pattern that outlines the section of the die that will eventually break free.

The difference between a pre-cud and a full cud:

- Full cud = section has broken free, leaving a flat, featureless blob on the coin

- Pre-cud = cracks have outlined the section, but it's still attached

Continuing the project of documenting Indian Head cent errors that no reference has catalogued. Pre-cuds are particularly underrepresented because they're less visually dramatic than full cuds, but they're arguably more interesting — you're looking at a die at the moment before failure, not after.

Continuing the die error documentation project. This 1857 Flying Eagle cent has a rim cud on the obverse at the top, directly over "STATE" in "STATES OF AMERICA."

A rim cud forms when a piece of the die edge fractures and separates. Once that section of the die is gone, it can't transfer any design detail — so every coin struck from that die carries a smooth, raised mass of metal where lettering or rim detail should be.

The Flying Eagle cent (1857-1858) is interesting context here. It was the first small-size cent, replacing the Large Cent that had been in production since 1793. Only two years of production before the Indian Head design took over. Every Flying Eagle is collected, but undocumented die states like this add a layer that variety specialists appreciate.

Not in any reference. Now catalogued.

This one is interesting because it shows multiple stages of die deterioration happening simultaneously on a single coin.

On the reverse at 3 o'clock:

- Two die cracks radiate outward through the wreath — one running north, one running south

- Between them, a retained cud extends from about 3 o'clock to 4:30

- The retained cud is the piece of the die that's starting to break free but hasn't fully separated yet

A retained cud is different from a full cud. Full cud = piece completely broken off, leaving a flat blob. Retained cud = piece still partially attached, creating an irregular shifted area. This coin is caught at the intermediate stage — the die is actively failing but hasn't reached its final state.

The die cracks show the stress fractures still propagating when this coin was struck. More strikes would have extended those cracks further, and eventually the retained piece would have broken free entirely, converting this to a full cud.

Continuing the project of documenting every Indian Head Cent error I can find. The number of undocumented cuds, precuds, and retained cuds in this series is much larger than expected.

Continuing the Indian Head Cent error documentation project. This one caught my attention because it has rim cuds on both the obverse and reverse at approximately 3 o'clock.

Cuds are die-specific — when a piece of the die edge breaks away, it only affects that one die. So seeing matching rim cuds at the same clock position on both sides means both the obverse and reverse dies failed at the same location. That's either two independent die breaks that happened to align, or something more unusual happened during die setup.

This is a copper-nickel 1864, which is the final year before the Mint switched to the lighter bronze composition mid-year. The copper-nickel Indian Heads (1859-1864) are a distinct series within the broader Indian Head run — heavier, different alloy, different surface character.

Not in any reference. Now catalogued.

Continuing the project of cataloguing every Indian Head Cent error I can find that I can't find referenced anywhere. This 1863 has a clean reverse cud running from about 9 o'clock to 10 o'clock, cutting right through the wreath.

So far I've logged over a dozen Indian Head cuds and precuds from just 1859-1879. The number of undocumented die failures in this series is much larger than I expected going in.

Going through Indian Head Cents systematically documenting die clashes for NumisDex, and this 1864 L on Ribbon is a strong example.

Die clash details:

- Reverse: Feathers from the Indian headdress are clashed inside the right wreath area. You can see the individual feather lines where the obverse die's design transferred.

- Obverse: The "C" from CENT and much of the right side of the left wreath are clashed in front of the Indian's face.

Die clashes on Indian Heads are well-known to the early copper community, but there's no systematic catalog of them. Every reference skips them — Snow's attributions focus on die marriages, the Red Book doesn't list them, and the Cherrypicker's Guide covers a handful at most.

I'm working through the entire Indian Head series documenting every die clash, cud, split die, and die crack I can identify from certified coin images. So far I've logged over 100 previously undocumented errors across 1859-1879 alone.

This 1948 cent has a dramatic detached lamination covering the right side of the obverse. You can see where the copper has literally separated into layers, with the detached flaps still showing the striated internal structure of the metal.

Laminations are planchet errors — they happen before the coin is struck. During production, the copper strip is rolled through mills to reach the correct thickness. If gas pockets, oxides, or other contaminants get trapped between layers during this process, those spots become weak points. When the blank is punched out and struck by the dies, the pressure causes those weak layers to split apart.

Some key details on this one:

- The lamination runs from the date area all the way up through "IN GOD WE TRUST"

- Multiple detached flaps are visible, each showing the layered copper underneath

- The reverse is completely unaffected — typical for laminations since they're in the metal itself

- 1948 Philadelphia mint (no mintmark)

Lamination errors exist on a spectrum — from minor surface peeling you'd barely notice, to coins where large sections of metal have completely detached. This one falls solidly on the dramatic end of that spectrum.

Found this one coin roll hunting. Most "In God We Rust" Kansas quarters just have the T in TRUST affected by grease on the die. This one took out the I in IN, the GO in GOD, and the TR in TRUST effectively reading "_N _D WE _UST."

The 2005 Kansas quarter is one of the most well-known examples of a grease-filled die error because the missing T in TRUST created the memorable "In God We Rust" misread. But the grease on the die face doesn't always stop at one letter. When enough lubricant accumulates, it can spread across a larger area of the die and prevent multiple design elements from transferring.

You can see the ghost outlines of where the letters should be the grease blocked full die contact but some faint impressions still transferred through the film.

Pulled this one from a nickel roll. Die chip on the reverse near Monticello's columns — has that distinctive rounded shape that collectors call the "bee hive." I've found several of these searching through nickel rolls and they tend to sell pretty quickly. Worth slowing down for if you're hunting through Jefferson nickels.

Picked this up out of a bargain bin at a local coin shop. It's a 1917-D Buffalo Nickel with the Two Feather variety (FS-401) — the third feather of the headdress was polished off the die during maintenance.

It's the exact same type of error as the famous 1937-D 3-Legged Buffalo. Mint employees would polish working dies to remove die clash marks, and sometimes they went too far and removed actual design elements. On the 3-Legged, they erased an entire bison leg. On these, they took out a feather.

What surprised me when I started researching this: there are 27 documented dates with the Two Feather variety from 1913-1930. It wasn't a one-time accident — die polishing consistently caused this across multiple years and mint facilities.

The 3-Legged commands thousands at auction, but these Two Feather varieties are considerably more attainable while being the same fundamental error. If you collect Buffalo Nickels, it's worth knowing about.

Always check the bargain bins.

Pulled this from a roll of nickels. The reverse is rotated roughly 30-45 degrees counter-clockwise. You can see the tilt clearly in the collage photo -- Monticello leans compared to normal coin turn alignment.

Rotated dies happen when the die gets installed at the wrong angle in the press, the alignment key wears out, or the operator doesn't seat it correctly. Every coin struck from that die has the exact same rotation.

30-45 degrees is a pretty solid rotation for a modern coin. Anyone else finding rotated dies in modern nickels?

Found this one coin roll hunting. The field behind and through the back Washington's head is covered in directional pitting -- a field-restricted strike-through where debris on the die only affected the flat field area can be seen around IGWT and behind Washington's head. This particular strike through also extended into the head of Washington. A strike-through is the same error type as the blind bat quarter, burning building quarter, etc.