1951 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-001

Description

Assigned the benchmark WDDO-001 designation for the 1951 Roosevelt dime, this primary obverse doubled die exhibits a minor eastward spread on the lips and lower nose of John R. Sinnock's Roosevelt portrait — a facial feature diagnostic that places this variety within the "hot lips" category of Roosevelt dime doubled dies that have generated significant attribution debate. The Wexler Team documented this variety with an extensive editorial comment noting that many "hot lips" Roosevelt dimes have been delisted as abrasion doubling rather than genuine hub doubling, though the two 1951 examples (including this one) appear subtly different and more consistent with the hub doubling recorded on the 1955 doubled master die — suggesting a possible connection to a known master die doubling event rather than mechanical abrasion during the striking process. No significant obverse die markers were recorded, but the reverse carries two useful diagnostics: a light die scratch running west-southwest to east-northeast below the E in STATES, and several die scratches running southwest to northeast through the E in E PLURIBUS UNUM. Philadelphia struck approximately 103.94 million silver Roosevelt dimes in 1951, consuming substantial numbers of die pairs during the production year. The distinction between hub doubling and abrasion doubling is critical for this variety's attribution status — abrasion doubling (also called strike doubling or machine doubling) is a striking-phase artifact that reduces rather than enhances a coin's collector value, while genuine hub doubling represents a die-making defect that is repeatable across all coins struck from that die. Cross-referenced as Wexler Variety ID: 1951 10¢ WDDO-001, this variety warrants in-hand examination to compare the lip and nose doubling against reference specimens of confirmed hub-doubled and abrasion-doubled Roosevelt dimes.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Mark W. Joyner Cross References: None known Comments: Many of the "hot lips" Roosevelt dimes have been delisted as abrasion doubling. Though the two 1951 examples here are much slighter and appear subtly different (more like the hub doubling recorded on the 1955 doubled master die). I'd like to see an example of these in-hand to make a determination on them.
• None known Comments: Many of the "hot lips" Roosevelt dimes have been delisted as abrasion doubling. Though the two 1951 examples here are much slighter and appear subtly different (more like the hub doubling recorded on the 1955 doubled master die). I'd like to see an example of these in-hand to make a determination on them.; Wexler Variety ID: 1951 10¢ WDDO-001
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References