1946 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-022

Description

Ranked twenty-second among the obverse doubled dies documented for the debut 1946 Roosevelt dime, DDO-022 shows light spread on LIBERTY, the forehead, and the profile of Roosevelt's portrait — all on John R. Sinnock's obverse design that entered production the year after President Roosevelt's death. VarietyVista assigned identifiers UVC-024 and DMR-024, with three die stages tracked: Stage A at early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B where both obverse and reverse surfaces have reached mid die state, and Stage C at late die state (unconfirmed). The commentary notes ODV-001, linking this die to a specific obverse design variant, and the original cataloger's note that a specimen is needed for new color digital photographs indicates this variety was initially documented from earlier-generation imaging and awaits updated visual references. Philadelphia produced approximately 255.3 million Roosevelt dimes in 1946, the first year of the design, which established the hub tooling that would generate working dies for decades. Light spread affecting LIBERTY, the forehead, and the profile describes a hub displacement that impacted design elements spanning from the upper left inscription across the central portrait — a broad angular or rotational misalignment rather than a localized distortion. The forehead and profile are particularly diagnostic because the curved surfaces of Roosevelt's face amplify even subtle displacement into visible doubled contours, especially along the bridge of the nose, the brow ridge, and the hairline. Twenty-two documented obverse doubled dies for a single date attests to the intensity of collector scrutiny applied to this first-year-of-issue coin. Collectors should examine LIBERTY under 10-15x magnification for thickened or slightly displaced letterforms, then move to the forehead and nose profile where the curved portrait contours most readily betray light spread as a secondary outline shadowing the primary impression.

Die Markers

• UVC-024
• DMR-024
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Obverse and Reverse are MDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

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

External References