1945-D Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-014

Description

With at least fourteen documented DDO varieties for the 1945-D date, Denver Mint wheat cent dies from the final full year of World War II demonstrate a remarkable frequency of hub doubling events. WDDO-014, cataloged by the Wexler Team as Wexler Variety ID: 1945-D 1¢ WDDO-014, records the fourteenth such instance identified through systematic die study. Denver produced 266,268,000 shell-case copper cents in 1945, continuing the wartime alloy composition that would finally be retired in favor of standard brass later that year and into 1946. Each of those quarter-billion-plus coins required obverse dies that were manufactured at the Philadelphia die shop, shipped west, and installed in Denver's coining presses. At die preparation rates this volume demanded, the incidence of misaligned secondary hub impressions naturally increased. WDDO-014 shows doubling on obverse design elements consistent with the hubbing process, and its high catalog number indicates it was discovered after thirteen more prominent or more widely known varieties had already been documented. Collectors pursuing this variety should note that 1945-D cents appear frequently in original bank-wrapped rolls that survived from the post-war period, providing a viable searching avenue. Attribution against the other thirteen 1945-D DDO varieties requires careful measurement of spread direction and magnitude on the diagnostic lettering and date.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1945-D 1¢ WDDO-014
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References