1941-D Repunched Mintmark WRPM-014

Description

With no previously known cross-references, WRPM-014 for the 1941-D Lincoln wheat cent was cataloged exclusively in the Wexler files under Wexler Variety ID 1941-D 1c WRPM-014, reflecting a repunched Denver mintmark that the Wexler Team identified and attributed. The reverse die carries a distinctive diagnostic: die scratches running northward from the left side of the last A in AMERICA, a feature that persists across die states and provides reliable die-pair confirmation even on well-circulated specimens where the mintmark repunching itself may be partially worn away. In 1941, the Denver Mint manually applied its D mintmark to individual working dies using hand punches, a process that required the engraver to position the small letter punch accurately on the die face before striking it with a mallet. Any deviation in the initial placement necessitated a second punch application at the correct position, leaving evidence of both the errant and corrected impressions — the doubled or shifted mintmark image that collectors know as a repunched mintmark. Denver struck 128,700,000 Lincoln cents in 1941, a pre-war production level that would soon be dwarfed by wartime demand. Victor David Brenner's wheat ear reverse, featuring the paired wheat stalks framing ONE CENT and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, had been the series' reverse design since 1909, and by 1941 the die-making process for this familiar design was highly routinized — yet the hand-punching step remained the one operation where individual human judgment and motor control directly affected the finished die, creating the variety that WRPM-014 documents.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John Bordner Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1941-D 1¢ WRPM-014
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References