1961 Doubled Die Reverse DDR-012

Description

John R. Sinnock's Liberty Bell reverse on the Franklin Half Dollar provides the canvas for DDR-012, where medium spread affects AMERICA and the eagle's tail feathers with light spread extending to HALF DOLLAR on this 1961 Philadelphia issue. An unusual die state relationship appears in the staging data: Stage A shows the reverse at Early Die State while the obverse is already at Mid Die State — an asymmetric pairing indicating the reverse die was newer than its obverse partner, having been installed as a replacement after the original reverse wore out. Die markers tracked under UVC-018 and DMR-034 document three stages: the described EDS/MDS split at Stage A, Stage B at Mid Die State (unconfirmed), and Stage C at Late Die State (unconfirmed). Philadelphia struck 8,290,000 Franklin Half Dollars in 1961, the penultimate year of the series before the Kennedy Half Dollar replaced it in 1964. The eagle's tail feather doubling is particularly diagnostic on Franklin Halves because the small eagle stamped on the bell's lower right provides fine feather detail where hub displacement creates clearly visible secondary impressions. Cataloged by VarietyVista, DDR-012 captures one of the final years of this short-lived but heavily collected half dollar series.

Die Markers

• UVC-018
• DMR-034
• Stage A:
• Reverse is EDS
• Obverse is MDS
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by James Wiles
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References