1944-S Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-011

Description

Eleventh among the documented San Francisco 1944 DDO wheat cents, WDDO-011 holds a mid-catalog position within the extensive family of hub doubling varieties identified for this wartime issue. Cross-referenced as Wexler Variety ID: 1944-S 1¢ WDDO-011, this die was authenticated by the Wexler Team through analysis of its specific doubling characteristics — the spread direction, the design elements most affected, and any supplementary die markers that fingerprint the working die. San Francisco produced 282,760,000 shell-case cents in 1944, a volume that placed heavy demands on the die supply chain and created the conditions for numerous hub misalignment events during die manufacture at Philadelphia. The eleventh DDO listing represents a variety of moderate visibility within the catalog hierarchy: sufficiently distinct to have been identified and documented independently from the first ten entries, yet cataloged after those more prominent varieties had already been established. Wartime cents from San Francisco carry the small S mintmark that was hand-punched onto each working die individually, adding another layer of die-specific identification beyond the hub doubling itself. Collectors should examine potential WDDO-011 specimens alongside reference images for adjacent catalog numbers (WDDO-010 and WDDO-012) to ensure correct attribution, as mid-sequence varieties sometimes share broadly similar affected areas while differing in the precise geometry of the secondary hub impression.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1944-S 1¢ WDDO-011
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References