1926 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-006

Description

Sixth in the Wexler obverse doubled die census for the 1926 Lincoln wheat cent, WDDO-006 presents the distinctive doubled eyelid diagnostic — an extra eyelid visible just below Lincoln's main eyelid on Victor David Brenner's portrait that has appeared on the cent obverse since 1909. The Wexler Team cataloged this variety under Wexler Variety ID: 1926 1c WDDO-006, documenting two specific obverse die markers: a small die gouge appearing as a dot above the numeral 2 in the date, and a small die gouge centered under the word IN of the motto. No significant reverse die markers were recorded. Philadelphia struck approximately 157.1 million cents in 1926, a standard mid-1920s production run that consumed considerable numbers of working dies across the calendar year. The doubled eyelid diagnostic is one of the most recognizable and collectible forms of Lincoln cent hub doubling, as the human eye naturally focuses on facial features when examining a portrait, making the duplicated eyelid more intuitively detectable than many inscription-based varieties. The extra eyelid appears as a distinct secondary line below and slightly displaced from the primary eyelid contour, created when the hub's second impression slightly shifted the eye area. The two die gouges — the dot above the 2 and the gouge under IN — provide critical secondary diagnostics that serve as die identification checkpoints independent of the doubling itself. These markers allow collectors to first confirm they are examining the correct die before investing the careful scrutiny needed to verify the subtle eyelid doubling. The 1926 date falls in the middle of the wheat cent's production run, far enough from the series' bookend dates to avoid the heightened collector attention given to early and transitional issues, making WDDO-006 a variety that rewards systematic examination of this mid-series date.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Dr. Daniel Griffin Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1926 1¢ WDDO-006
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References