Since I collect early copper and also early half dimes by die marriage, I have a lot of coins with die cracks. But here's one of my favorites. It's not rare and it's probably one of the Randall Hoard cents. But the circumferential die crack through the stars and date is pretty dramatic.
I've been studying my 1955-S Cents recently, and found a nice die crack/break sequence on the reverse of some coins I set aside as "Pre-BIE". Turns out their reverse breaks are more interesting than the Pre-BIE chips! I shot a 4-coin sequence, and created an animation that goes 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4... It's cool to see how the piece of retained die moves around after it breaks. I guess eventually it broke completely away, and created a Cud, but AFAIK this cud is not listed anywhere, so may not have been discovered yet, or perhaps the die was retired before it completely failed?
I am not fully sure if this is a lamination crack or a die crack but interesting. This Linden Mueller CWT has an interesting die crack that borders on a small cud.
Interesting stuff, guys. I have a few but no pictures to show. I love die cracks because each one is unique to the particular coin and makes it stand out. Bruce
Here is the classic item for die breaks. How this Civil War token die stayed together to make this piece is beyond me. The funny part is that the variety is actually common and available. The CWT store card variety number is NY 630-M-6a. The obverse die for this 1801 half dime is split right down the middle. The various impressions from this die once confused me to the point when I thought there were two varieties. This piece was made from the same die, believe it or not. The big crack that runs down from the "Y" in "LIBERTY" did not strike up when the die cracked down the middle. The first coin I posted is a later die state. This one was stuck before the previous piece.
