1958-D Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-003

Description

As the final year of the Lincoln Wheat Cent series, 1958 holds particular significance for variety collectors, and WDDO-003 from the Denver Mint documents one of the doubled die obverses produced during this farewell production run. Cataloged by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID 1958-D 1c WDDO-003, this variety resulted from a hub misalignment during die preparation at the Denver facility, which struck an enormous 800,953,300 cents that year — the highest single-year Denver mintage in the entire Wheat Cent series. That record output demanded a correspondingly large number of working dies, and the probability of hub misalignment events increased proportionally. The 1959 introduction of the Lincoln Memorial reverse by Frank Gasparro made 1958 the terminal date for the Wheat Ears reverse that had accompanied Brenner's obverse portrait since 1909, lending every 1958 variety a last-year-of-issue cachet. WDDO-003's position as the third cataloged doubled die obverse for this date-mint places it alongside at least two other documented DDOs, and collectors must carefully distinguish between them by examining the specific spread direction, affected design elements, and any ancillary die markers unique to each working die. Standard bronze composition (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) had returned by 1958 after the wartime brass interlude, so these cents display the typical reddish-brown toning trajectory. Examination under 7x magnification focused on the date digits, LIBERTY, and the motto provides the most reliable diagnostic pathway.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1958-D 1¢ WDDO-003
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References