1939 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-003

Description

Adolph Weinman's iconic Winged Liberty Head — popularly known as the Mercury Dime — hosts WDDO-003, the third doubled die obverse cataloged for the 1939 Philadelphia issue, where a spread toward the center manifests on the date. Centerward spread is a less common doubling direction than outward or rotational patterns, indicating the hub was displaced inward during die impression, compressing the date digits slightly toward the design center. Obverse die markers are abundant: a die scratch runs parallel to the rim throughout the obverse — an extensive marking suggesting contact with tooling or another surface during die preparation — and several nearly vertical die scratches appear on Liberty's nose. Reverse markers include a short die gouge running east from the top left of M in AMERICA and a die scratch running SE from the right side of N in ONE to the rim. Cross-referenced as Wexler Variety ID 1939 10¢ WDDO-003 with no other known references, attributed by the Wexler Team. Philadelphia struck 67,740,000 Mercury Dimes in 1939, the penultimate decade of this beloved design's production. The rim-parallel die scratch spanning the entire obverse provides an exceptionally efficient screening marker — its presence across the full obverse circumference makes it detectable at virtually any examination angle before the collector proceeds to verify the centerward date spread.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John A. Wexler Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1939 10¢ WDDO-003
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References