1956-D Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-011

Description

Eleventh in the documented sequence of Denver-mint 1956 doubled die obverse varieties, WDDO-011 extends the already substantial catalog of hub doubling events for this billion-piece production year. The Wexler Team assigned this die Wexler Variety ID: 1956-D 1¢ WDDO-011, and its position beyond WDDO-010 indicates it was cataloged as part of ongoing die study work that continues to expand the known variety census for 1950s wheat cents. Hub doubling on this die affects elements of the obverse design — the inscriptions IN GOD WE TRUST and LIBERTY, the date digits, and potentially details of Lincoln's portrait — created during the multi-impression hubbing process at the Philadelphia die manufacturing facility. The Denver Mint's 1956 cent output of over 1.098 billion coins demanded an extraordinary number of working dies, each of which underwent the hubbing process independently and therefore carried its own unique combination of alignment precision or misalignment. WDDO-011 adds to the body of evidence that mid-1950s die preparation tolerated measurable hub displacement more frequently than earlier decades, possibly reflecting changes in equipment calibration standards or the pressure to maintain die output volumes. For collectors, this variety serves as a reminder that systematic examination of common-date wheat cents can still yield documentable die varieties decades after the coins were struck.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1956-D 1¢ WDDO-011
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References