1944 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-013

Description

Medium spread on IN GOD WE TRUST with light spread on LIBERTY distinguishes DDO-013 for the 1944 Washington quarter, a wartime issue struck during the peak of American coinage production for the war effort. VarietyVista assigned UVC-0389 with die markers reference DMR-014, documenting a three-stage die life where Stages A and B at early and mid-die-state remain unconfirmed, but Stage C reveals the obverse at late die state accompanied by die gouges through the word STATES on the reverse -- a late-stage deterioration feature that provides both die state confirmation and a secondary diagnostic for the reverse die. The differential spread intensity -- medium on the motto but only light on LIBERTY -- is characteristic of hub doubling where the displacement axis intersects certain text elements at a more favorable angle than others, amplifying the visible separation on letters oriented perpendicular to the direction of hub shift. John Flanagan's Washington quarter obverse, with its dignified profile modeled after the Houdon bust of Washington, entered production in 1932 and was in its twelfth year of use when this 1944 die was manufactured. Philadelphia struck 104,956,000 quarters in 1944, a substantial wartime mintage reflecting the military and industrial demand for coinage. The IN GOD WE TRUST motto, positioned above Washington's head in a gentle arc, provides the primary search area for identifying DDO-013, with the medium-level spread producing visible separation under 5x to 7x magnification on well-preserved examples.

Die Markers

• UVC-0389
• DMR-014
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Obverse is LDS
• Die gouges through STATES – LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Lee Hiemke
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References