1858 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-007

Description

Among the most precisely localized doubled die varieties in American numismatics, WDDO-007 on the 1858 Flying Eagle Cent — Large Letters variety — exhibits strong Class I clockwise rotated hub doubling visible exclusively on the eagle's eye. Cataloged by the Wexler Team as 1858 1¢ WDDO-007 with no other known cross-references, this variety concentrates its entire doubling signature in a single anatomical detail of James B. Longacre's flying eagle design. Class I rotated hub doubling occurs when the working hub is slightly turned relative to the working die between impressions, creating a rotational offset that varies in magnitude across the die face depending on distance from the rotation center. That only the eagle's eye shows detectable doubling indicates the rotation center fell very close to that feature, producing maximum angular displacement at the eye while remaining below the visibility threshold on all surrounding design elements. The strong intensity classification on such a localized feature means the clockwise rotation, though minuscule in absolute terms, generated enough offset at the eye to produce clearly separated primary and secondary images — effectively creating the appearance of a doubled pupil or doubled eye socket. The Flying Eagle Cent (1856-1858) was designed by James B. Longacre and struck in 88% copper and 12% nickel, representing one of the shortest-lived regular-issue coin series in United States history. The Large Letters obverse variety carries taller, bolder lettering than its Small Letters counterpart. This pre-Civil War issue's strong, single-element doubling makes WDDO-007 an unusually focused diagnostic target: attribution requires only confirming the doubled eye under 5x to 7x magnification.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Not noted Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1858 1¢ WDDO-007
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References