1963 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-054

Description

Cataloged as Wexler Variety ID 1963 1c WDDO-054 and attributed by the Wexler Team, this business-strike doubled die obverse of the 1963 Lincoln Memorial Cent emerged from the Philadelphia Mint's vast production of 754,110,000 cents for general circulation. The Philadelphia Mint in 1963 operated at a pace that placed sustained demands on the die shop, where obverse working dies were manufactured through the hubbing process that presses a hardened working hub into annealed die blanks under enormous hydraulic force. Multiple impressions were typically required to achieve the full design depth, and any shift in the hub's position between impressions left a secondary image alongside the primary design. WDDO-054 preserves one such misalignment as a permanent feature of the die, reproduced identically on every coin struck before the die was removed from service. The uniformity of genuine hub doubling across all specimens from a given die is the characteristic that distinguishes it from machine doubling, which is a striking anomaly that varies from coin to coin, and from die deterioration doubling, which worsens progressively as the die wears. The 95% copper and 5% zinc planchet used for all 1963 cents provides a favorable medium for detecting doubling, as the alloy takes a sharp impression and retains fine detail well. Collectors should examine potential specimens under magnification with directional lighting, focusing on the legends, date, and portrait contours where hub displacement most commonly manifests.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1963 1¢ WDDO-054
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References