1926 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-001

Description

Holding the primary obverse doubled die designation for the 1926 Mercury dime, DDO-001 presents a strong offset spread in the northeast direction on LIBERTY, the hair curls, and the cap of Adolph A. Weinman's iconic Winged Liberty design, combined with clockwise rotation affecting the ERTY portion of LIBERTY, the designer's initials, and the date. This dual-mechanism doubling — combining linear spread with rotational displacement — classifies the variety under Class IV+V in the Wexler system, indicating both offset and pivoted hub components contributed to the final appearance. Die markers UVC-281 and DMR-002 from VarietyVista anchor the attribution, and the variety is cross-referenced as 1-O-IV+V-CW from K-9, indicating its position in the Kamal attribution catalog. Philadelphia struck approximately 32.16 million Mercury dimes in 1926, a moderate mintage for the series that has attracted sustained collector attention. The strong spread designation places DDO-001 at the upper end of the doubling magnitude scale, meaning the doubled images are visible without extreme magnification and produce clearly separated secondary impressions. The northeast offset on LIBERTY's upper letters creates displaced shadow letters above and to the right of the primary text, while the clockwise rotation on the lower elements (ERTY, designer's initials, date) produces increasing displacement as distance from the rotation pivot point grows. Weinman's flowing hair curls on the Winged Liberty design amplify hub doubling visibility, as the organic curves reveal displacement that might be less apparent on geometric letterforms. As DDO-001, this represents the benchmark variety for the date, and collectors should examine the cap and hair region under 10x magnification where the northeast spread is most pronounced.

Die Markers

• UVC-281, DMR-002

Attribution History

• 1-O-IV+V-CW from K-9

External References