1962 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-031

Description

Originally cataloged as WDDO-073, this 1962 Lincoln Memorial Cent doubled die obverse variety was reassigned to WDDO-031 after researchers identified four different doubled working hubs used in the production of 1962 cent dies — a discovery that fundamentally reshaped the catalog by revealing that many seemingly independent doubled dies actually inherited their doubling from a shared hub source rather than from unique die-level events. The renumbering reorganized the entire WDDO sequence to reflect these hub-family relationships, grouping varieties by their working hub ancestry and providing a more scientifically accurate cataloging framework. WDDO-031 carries the Wexler Variety ID 1962 1c WDDO-031, with no additional cross-references currently known. As a regular business-strike variety from the Philadelphia Mint, it was produced during the final year that the Lincoln cent was struck in the original 95% copper, 5% tin-and-zinc alloy, a composition that had been in continuous use since Victor David Brenner's design debuted in 1909. The massive 1962 Philadelphia production run exceeded 606 million cents, requiring hundreds of working dies and correspondingly large numbers of working hubs — conditions that created abundant opportunities for hub-level doubling to propagate across multiple dies. Collectors seeking to attribute this variety should consult the Wexler team's detailed die marker listings and compare the specific obverse and reverse characteristics of their specimen against the documented die states, since the hub-family grouping means that the doubling pattern alone may not distinguish WDDO-031 from its siblings.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Brian Ribar Cross References: None known Comments: This variety was previously listed as WDDO-073 but was reassigned to help fill the gaping holes in the listings that were created when four different doubled working hubs were identified.
• None known Comments: This variety was previously listed as WDDO-073 but was reassigned to help fill the gaping holes in the listings that were created when four different doubled working hubs were identified.; Wexler Variety ID: 1962 1¢ WDDO-031
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References