1942-S Doubled Die Obverse DDO-002

Description

Second in the obverse doubled die census for the 1942-S Jefferson nickel, DDO-002 presents very light spread on LIBERTY, the star, and the date — subtle diagnostics on Felix Schlag's wartime nickel design. VarietyVista assigned die identifiers UVC-052 and DMR-011, documenting three die stages that trace this die's production life from fresh to worn. Stage A represents early die state (unconfirmed), where the die surfaces retain their sharpest detail. Stage B advances to mid die state, showing a die crack developing across the bust and another crack forming in the hair — progressive fractures that provide useful die state benchmarks for collectors. Notably, the reverse paired with this obverse is listed as RPM-010 at Stage B's early die state, creating a dual-attribution coin that carries both obverse doubling and a repunched mintmark. Stage C reaches late die state (unconfirmed), where accumulated wear would have further softened the already light doubling. The 1942-S falls within the early wartime period, though it precedes the 1942-1945 silver "war nickels" — San Francisco struck standard copper-nickel composition five-cent pieces early in 1942 before switching to the 35% silver alloy mandated to conserve nickel for military use. San Francisco produced approximately 32.9 million standard nickels that year. The very light spread designation means this doubling requires careful examination under at least 15-20x magnification with fiber-optic illumination to confirm. The connection to RPM-010 on the reverse adds significant collector interest, as dual-attribution varieties that combine obverse doubling with reverse mintmark repunching are particularly prized in the Jefferson nickel series.

Die Markers

• UVC-052
• DMR-011
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Die crack across bust – MDS
• Die crack in hair
• Reverse is LISTED as RPM-010 – EDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Larry Briggs
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References