1934 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-005

Description

Medium spread on the date, ribbon, and LIBERTY distinguishes DDO-005 on the 1934 Washington Silver Quarter — one of the earliest dates in the series that debuted just two years prior in 1932 to honor the bicentennial of George Washington's birth. Cataloged by VarietyVista with tracking codes UVC-014 and DMR-009, Stage B reveals distinctive die scratches running north-south in front of Washington's profile and die scratches through ER DO of QUARTER DOLLAR at MDS, while Stage C shows these scratches worn away at LDS on both obverse and reverse. The obverse is documented as ODV-002 (Medium Motto), a specific obverse die variety designation indicating a particular motto configuration. John Flanagan's Washington Quarter design, which won the 1931 design competition, was still in its earliest production years when this die was manufactured, and the die-making procedures for the new design were still being refined. The 1934 Philadelphia Mint struck approximately 6.8 million quarters, a relatively modest figure compared to later production years. The three-stage die marker progression — from unconfirmed EDS through the distinctive MDS scratches to LDS where those scratches have been polished away — provides collectors with a timeline of the die's working life and aids in precisely dating individual specimens within that progression.

Die Markers

• UVC-014
• DMR-009
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Light die scratches North-South in front of profile – MDS
• Die scratches through ER DO of QUARTER DOLLAR – MDS
• Stage C:
• Reverse die scratches worn away – LDS
• Obverse die scratches worn away – LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Lee Hiemke
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References