1941 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-004

Description

VarietyVista's DDO-004 for the 1941 Lincoln wheat cent presents medium extra thickness on LIBERTY and the date, with light extra thickness on WE TRUST, creating a graduated doubling profile where the most prominent effect appears on the left side of the obverse and diminishes toward the right. Tracked under UVC-1476 with die markers reference DMR-006, the three-stage die life follows a clean progression: Stage A at early die state is unconfirmed, Stage B shows both obverse and reverse at mid-die-state, and Stage C reaches late die state on both sides. This complete MDS-to-LDS documentation confirms that the die pair saw extended service, giving collectors the opportunity to find examples at different points along the die wear spectrum. The "extra thickness" doubled die expression results from hub impressions that nearly overlap, adding width and height to design elements without producing the visible separation or shelf edges characteristic of wider-spread varieties. On the word LIBERTY, the extra thickness creates letters that appear bolder and wider than normal, a distinction most easily noticed when comparing a DDO-004 specimen directly against an undoubled 1941 cent under identical magnification. Philadelphia struck 887,018,000 wheat cents in 1941, a massive pre-war production run driven by industrial expansion and military mobilization, and the sheer volume of 1941 Philadelphia cents in existence means that DDO-004 examples likely survive in larger numbers than the unconfirmed EDS stage might suggest. The 1941 date sits at a pivotal moment in American history, the final year of peacetime before the attack on Pearl Harbor transformed the nation's priorities.

Die Markers

• UVC-1476
• DMR-006
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Obverse and Reverse are MDS
• Stage C:
• Obverse and Reverse are LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Larry Patterson
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References