1952-D Doubled Die Obverse DDO-001

Description

Holding the primary obverse doubled die designation for the 1952-D Lincoln wheat cent, DDO-001 exhibits strong spread but light hubbing southeast, manifesting as an extra eyelid below Lincoln's normal eyelid on Victor David Brenner's portrait. The "strong spread but light hubbing" characterization indicates that while the angular displacement between hub impressions was significant, the secondary impression itself was applied with reduced force, producing a clearly displaced but shallowly impressed secondary image. VarietyVista assigned identifiers UVC-1807 and DMR-025, documenting three die stages that track this die's service life. Stage A sits at early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B at mid die state (unconfirmed), and Stage C confirms late-to-mid die state on the obverse, with a long die scratch running from the S of PLURIBUS southeast toward the right wheat ear — a diagnostic scratching pattern that provides an excellent secondary identification marker. Denver struck approximately 746.1 million cents in 1952, a substantial output that consumed extensive die inventories. The comments note MMS-005, indicating this die also carries a misplaced mintmark — the D mintmark showing evidence of a secondary impression — creating a dual-attribution die with both doubled die and misplaced mintmark characteristics. The southeast directional spread producing an extra eyelid is a diagnostic type found across multiple Lincoln cent DDO varieties, where the sculptural depth of Brenner's portrait around the eye area amplifies even modest hub displacement into a visibly doubled contour. Collectors should first locate the long die scratch from the S of PLURIBUS on the reverse to confirm the correct die, then examine Lincoln's eye under 10-15x magnification for the secondary eyelid line displaced below and slightly to the right of the primary.

Die Markers

• UVC-1807
• DMR-025
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Obverse is LMDS
• Long die scratch from S of PLURIBUS Southeast to Right wheat – LMDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Larry Patterson
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References