1946 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-020

Description

Positioned twentieth in the obverse doubled die census for the inaugural-year Roosevelt silver dime, DDO-020 displays light spread across three diagnostic zones: the date, designer John R. Sinnock's initials JS, and the word TRUST in the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. The spread direction runs top to bottom, indicating the secondary hub impression landed slightly below the primary, creating displaced secondary images that progress vertically downward through these inscription elements. VarietyVista assigned die identifiers UVC-022 and DMR-022 and documented three die stages for this variety: Stage A at early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B at mid die state (unconfirmed), and Stage C where a strong die scratch runs northward from the R of TRUST — confirming this as late die state — with the reverse also exhibiting LDS characteristics. The progressive die scratch at Stage C provides a valuable secondary diagnostic that can confirm the correct die even on specimens where the light doubling proves difficult to isolate. The additional notation that this obverse is ODV-001 (Obverse Design Variant 001) adds a design variant classification alongside the doubled die designation. Philadelphia struck approximately 255.25 million Roosevelt dimes in 1946, the first year of Sinnock's design replacing Adolph A. Weinman's Mercury dime. The transition to Sinnock's portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt — prompted by Roosevelt's death in April 1945 and his association with the March of Dimes campaign — meant entirely new hub and die tooling, and the light spread classification for DDO-020 suggests a modest hub misalignment during the early production of these inaugural dies.

Die Markers

• UVC-022
• DMR-022
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Strong die scratch North from R of TRUST – LDS
• Reverse is LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Delma K. Romines
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References