1957 Doubled Die Reverse DDR-014

Description

Fourteenth in the reverse doubled die census for the 1957 Lincoln wheat cent proof, DDR-014 exhibits light spread on E PLURIBUS UNUM and the upper left wheat ear on the reverse design that Victor David Brenner created for the Lincoln cent's 1909 debut. VarietyVista assigned die identifiers UVC-1909 and DMR-022, documenting three die stages: Stage A at early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B at mid die state (unconfirmed), and Stage C where the reverse has reached late die state, accompanied by a die scratch running northwest across the shoulder on the obverse — confirmed at LDS. The proof designation confirms this die served in proof production at Philadelphia, where approximately 1.25 million proof sets were produced in 1957, each containing a cent struck from specially prepared dies. The northwest die scratch across Lincoln's shoulder at Stage C provides a valuable late die state diagnostic — a directional scratch that developed during the die's service life and appears only on specimens struck after the die had progressed through its early and mid stages. Light spread on E PLURIBUS UNUM — the motto arcing across the upper reverse between the wheat ear tips — and the upper left wheat ear indicates a modest hub displacement concentrated in the upper-left quadrant of the reverse die. The 1957 date was the penultimate year of wheat cent production, with the series ending in 1958 before Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse debuted in 1959. Proof wheat cents from these final years are actively collected by both wheat cent enthusiasts and proof set specialists, and doubled die varieties add an additional layer of collecting interest. Examination should focus on the E PLURIBUS UNUM letters and the wheat stalk lines under 15x magnification, with Stage C specimens identifiable by the NW shoulder scratch.

Die Markers

• UVC-1909
• DMR-022
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Reverse is LDS
• Die scratch Northwest across shoulder – LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Timothy Wissert
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References