1958 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-003

Description

Third doubled die reverse for the 1958 Lincoln Wheat Cent, attributed by the Wexler Team with the designation 1958 1c WDDR-003 and no other known cross-references. Three DDRs from the terminal Wheat Cent year documents the ongoing die manufacturing variations that occurred during the final production run of Victor David Brenner's historic reverse design. The wheat ears reverse first appeared in 1909 and would make its last appearance in 1958 — forty-nine consecutive years of production that made it one of the longest-running reverse designs in U.S. coinage history. Beginning in 1959, Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse would take its place, closing the chapter on the wheat motif forever. Doubled die reverses are created when the hub enters the die blank at slightly different positions on successive impressions during the die-sinking process, embedding overlapping design elements that transfer to every coin struck from that die. The 1958 Philadelphia Mint output was substantial, and the number of die pairs consumed during this final year generated the statistical opportunities for hub alignment errors documented in these three DDR attributions. Terminal-year die varieties hold particular appeal for collectors, as they represent the very last instances of manufacturing variation on a design that had defined the reverse of the Lincoln Cent for nearly half a century. Each WDDR attribution for 1958 is a final-chapter entry in the long chronicle of Wheat Cent variety documentation.

Attribution History

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

External References