1959 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-003

Description

Light spread and extra thickness on the date, designer's initials, and TRUST characterize DDO-003 on the 1959 Roosevelt Silver Dime — a historically significant date that marks the final year of the original silver composition before the 1965 Coinage Act eliminated silver from circulating dimes. Cataloged by VarietyVista with tracking codes UVC-318 and DMR-005, three die stages have been recorded: Stage A at EDS (unconfirmed), Stage B at MDS (unconfirmed), and Stage C with both obverse and reverse at LDS. The confirmed LDS at Stage C documents the die's final working state, where accumulated deterioration and any secondary die markers are most developed. John R. Sinnock's obverse portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, with the designer's JS initials positioned at the truncation of the neck, provides the diagnostic areas where the extra thickness and light spread are most visible. The 1959 date carries special numismatic significance beyond its transitional silver status — it is the same year that saw the Lincoln Memorial Cent reverse debut, and the broader coinage landscape was approaching the dramatic compositional changes of the mid-1960s. The "light spread" classification indicates hub displacement sufficient to create detectable thickening without fully separated doubled imagery.

Die Markers

• UVC-318
• DMR-005
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Obverse and Reverse are LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Richard Bateson
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References