1946-S Doubled Die Obverse DDO-002

Description

Second in the obverse doubled die census for the inaugural-year 1946-S Roosevelt dime, DDO-002 presents light spread on the date and designer's initials with a top-to-bottom directional displacement. VarietyVista documented this variety under UVC-098 and DMR-006, with three die stages tracked: Stage A at early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B where the obverse reaches mid die state while the reverse has already progressed to late die state, and Stage C where both obverse and reverse surfaces exhibit late die state characteristics. The divergent die state pairing at Stage B — obverse MDS combined with reverse LDS — suggests the reverse die deteriorated more rapidly than the obverse, an asymmetry that can result from differences in design complexity, striking pressure distribution, or die steel quality between the two dies in the pair. Commentary identifies ODV-001 as the obverse design variant and MMS-002 (Ball serif) for the reverse mintmark style, providing additional attribution checkpoints. John R. Sinnock's Roosevelt dime debuted in 1946, and San Francisco's first-year production consumed working dies that were among the earliest manufactured from the new master hub — a period when the hub tooling was freshest and any hubbing irregularities would propagate across the initial run of working dies. The top-to-bottom spread on the date and designer's initials (JS for John Sinnock, positioned at the base of the neck truncation) indicates a vertical hub displacement that shifted the secondary impression downward relative to the primary. The date sits at the lower right of the obverse, and the initials occupy a nearby position at the neck base, placing both affected elements in the same quadrant where the vertical displacement was most pronounced. Collectors should examine the date numerals and the JS initials under 15x magnification, looking for a slight downward-displaced secondary impression beneath each primary character.

Die Markers

• UVC-098
• DMR-006
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Obverse is MDS
• Reverse is LDS
• Stage C:
• Obverse and Reverse are LDS

Attribution History

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

External References