Large die break "CUD" on a 1989 cent

[wavysteps]

Found this one while looking through some circulated rolls of Lincoln cents.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Wavystep2003/PA290001-1.jpg

It is a fine line that seperates what is to brittle and what is not on a die. This one, even though it appears to be EMDS, had some fault to cause a piece of the die to be chipped out.

BJ Neff

[diamond]

As you say, some dies fail early. It could be because of poor die steel, improper quenching, improper tempering, or some other misstep during die preparation.