1945 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-007

Description

Light spread and extra thickness on LIBERTY characterize DDO-007 on the 1945 Washington Silver Quarter, struck in 90% silver at a time when silver coinage production continued uninterrupted despite wartime metal shortages. Die tracking by VarietyVista assigns UVC-0523 and DMR-008, with three documented stages: Stage A is EDS (unconfirmed); Stage B is MDS (unconfirmed); Stage C shows a die crack across the forehead and hair at LDS, with the reverse also at LDS. The Stage C die crack provides a valuable late-state attribution marker — specimens showing both the LIBERTY doubling and the forehead crack can be confidently attributed to this specific die without ambiguity. John Flanagan's Washington portrait, in production since 1932, creates deep relief on LIBERTY that makes even light hub doubling detectable as extra thickness in the letter strokes. Philadelphia struck approximately 74 million silver quarters in 1945 during the final year of the war, with seven cataloged DDO varieties for this date indicating sustained hubbing alignment issues in quarter die production that year.

Die Markers

• UVC-0523
• DMR-008
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Die crack across forehead and hair – LDS
• Reverse is LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Lee Hiemke
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References