1952 Doubled Die Reverse DDR-003

Description

VarietyVista's UVC-0787 and DMR-012 identify the 1952 Washington Silver Quarter DDR-003, a variety showing light spread confined to "UNUM" on the reverse. The narrow scope of the doubling — limited to a single word — suggests the hub misalignment was minor and positioned such that the maximum separation fell precisely on these five letters while other design areas received virtually identical overlay between impressions. The obverse is identified as ODV-006, connecting this reverse to a specific obverse die pairing in the VarietyVista system. Die staging reveals a direct pairing: Stage A shows the reverse in Early Die State while the obverse, classified as ODV-006, is also in EDS. Stage B at Mid Die State and Stage C at Late Die State are both listed but unconfirmed, with the Stage C entry appearing truncated in the reference data — potentially indicating the die was retired before reaching late deterioration or that late-state specimens have not been examined. The 1952 Philadelphia Washington Quarter had a mintage of 38,862,073 in circulation strikes, though VarietyVista's documentation style suggests this could be either a business strike or proof variety (Philadelphia struck 81,980 proof sets in 1952). Light spread on a single word makes DDR-003 one of the subtler Washington Quarter doubled die reverses, requiring careful magnification work to confirm. John Flanagan's heraldic eagle reverse, with its distinctive perched eagle surrounded by lettering, had been the standard quarter reverse since 1932 and would remain so until the State Quarters program launched in 1999. Three documented DDRs for the 1952 date represents a modest catalog, consistent with the lower proof and circulation mintages of the early 1950s compared to the booming output of later decades.

Die Markers

• UVC-0787
• DMR-012
• Stage A:
• Reverse is EDS
• Obverse is ODV-006 – EDS
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:

Attribution History

• Discovered by James Wiles
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References