1946-S Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-014

Description

Victor David Brenner's wheat ear reverse design, introduced in 1909 and used through 1958, has proven remarkably susceptible to displaying visible hub doubling, as this 1946-S WDDR-014 demonstrates. Brenner, a Lithuanian-born sculptor and medalist, created the reverse as a companion to his Lincoln portrait obverse. The wheat ears' fine parallel lines, representing individual stalks of durum wheat, act almost like a built-in measurement gauge for die misalignment. Even minute hub displacement creates a visible moiré-like effect when the parallel lines of two offset impressions overlap, making doubling detectable at lower magnification than would be required on designs with broader, less detailed features. Cross-referenced as Wexler Variety ID: 1946-S 1¢ WDDR-014. Attributed by the Wexler Team. The combination of Brenner's intricately detailed wheat ear design with nearly five decades of production across three mint facilities generated thousands of doubled die varieties throughout the Wheat Cent series, with the 1946-S issue contributing its own substantial catalog to that record.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1946-S 1¢ WDDR-014
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References