1942 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-005

Description

Fifth in the doubled die reverse sequence for the 1942 Lincoln Wheat Cent, WDDR-005 documents another instance of hub-to-die misalignment during a year when the Philadelphia Mint was accelerating production to support wartime circulation needs. The United States entered World War II in December 1941, and by 1942 the Mint was under pressure to produce coinage at unprecedented rates — a demand that would lead to the radical composition change to zinc-coated steel cents in 1943. Under these conditions, die production was necessarily rapid, and the multiple hubbing passes required to fully sink the Wheat Cent design into each working die created opportunities for misregistration. WDDR-005 captures one such event, where the hub shifted between impressions and embedded doubled design elements into the die steel. Every cent subsequently struck by this die carried the same doubled features, making all such coins die-identical twins. Attributed by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID: 1942 1¢ WDDR-005, this variety belongs to the substantial population of wartime doubled dies that document the die production conditions at Philadelphia during the early months of American involvement in World War II.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1942 1¢ WDDR-005
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References