1944-S Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-004

Description

San Francisco's contribution to the 1944 wartime cent production generated its own population of doubled die reverses, and WDDR-004 extends the cataloged DDR sequence for the 1944-S Lincoln Wheat Cent to at least four documented varieties. The San Francisco Mint operated alongside Philadelphia and Denver in striking cents from recycled brass shell casings during 1944, and while its output was typically smaller than the other two facilities, the production volume still consumed enough die pairs to generate multiple instances of hub misalignment. The Wheat Cent reverse design, with its intricate parallel lines within the wheat stalks and fine serif lettering, is exceptionally revealing of even minor hub displacement during die manufacture. Each DDR in the 1944-S sequence represents a distinct misalignment event — the hub shifting in a different direction, by a different magnitude, or affecting different design elements — that makes every DDR a unique die variety. Attributed by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID: 1944-S 1¢ WDDR-004, this variety complements the extensively documented 1944-D DDR population and demonstrates that hub doubling events were distributed across all three operating mints during wartime production, not concentrated at any single facility.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1944-S 1¢ WDDR-004
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References