1956 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-009

Description

Ninth in the documented sequence of doubled die reverses on the 1956 proof Lincoln Wheat Cent, WDDR-009 belongs to a proof-only production run from Philadelphia that has yielded a remarkably dense cluster of DDR varieties. The proof die manufacturing process, while more controlled than business strike die production, still required multiple hubbing passes to fully sink the reverse design into the die steel, and each pass represented an opportunity for hub misalignment. What distinguishes proof DDRs for collectors is the exceptional surface quality of the struck coins — mirror fields and frosted devices provide an ideal backdrop for examining the overlapping design elements that define hub doubling. The 1956 date is among the most prolific for proof Wheat Cent DDRs, and researchers have established that this concentration likely reflects heavy die usage during the production of nearly 670,000 proof sets that year. Victor David Brenner's Wheat Cent reverse, featuring the elegant paired wheat ears and E PLURIBUS UNUM motto, was approaching its final years of production in 1956 — three years later, the Lincoln Memorial design would replace it permanently. Attributed by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID: 1956 1¢ Pr WDDR-009, this variety requires comparison against published reference photos to differentiate from the eight other cataloged DDRs sharing the same proof date.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1956 1¢ Pr WDDR-009
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References