1961 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-012

Description

Bearing the twelfth position in the sequence of known doubled die obverse varieties for the 1961 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial Cent, WDDO-012 is a business-strike variety whose origin lies in the multi-impression hubbing process that characterized U.S. Mint die production throughout the early Memorial reverse period. Each working die received several impressions from a master hub to achieve the required design depth, and misregistration between any two successive impressions could embed a doubled image into the die face. The resulting doubling was then faithfully reproduced on every coin struck from that die. Philadelphia cents from 1961 carry no mintmark, and the date falls within the initial years of Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse, which had replaced the wheat-ears design only two years earlier. The concentration of thirteen documented DDO varieties for a single year and mint underscores how common hubbing anomalies were during this high-volume production era. Specific die markers and cross-references to CONECA or other attribution services have not been published for WDDO-012, so collectors seeking to attribute this variety must compare their specimens' doubling patterns against confirmed photographic references. Careful examination under magnification of the obverse inscriptions, date, and portrait details will reveal the characteristic secondary impressions that define this variety.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Wexler Team

External References