1963 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-055

Description

Positioned among the higher-numbered business-strike DDO varieties for the 1963 Lincoln Memorial Cent, WDDO-055 was attributed by the Wexler Team and carries the designation Wexler Variety ID 1963 1c WDDO-055. The high sequence number reflects the chronological order of attribution rather than the quality or magnitude of the doubling, and collectors should not assume that later-numbered varieties are less interesting or valuable than those cataloged earlier. Some higher-numbered DDO varieties have been identified through improvements in magnification equipment, digital photography, and systematic searching methods that were unavailable when the earliest varieties for a given date were first documented. The 1963 Philadelphia cent was struck in a quantity of 754,110,000 pieces for circulation, a volume that required a large and continuously replenished supply of working dies throughout the year. Each die's individual passage through the hubbing process generated a unique outcome, and when misalignment occurred, the resulting doubled die entered the press line alongside properly aligned dies, striking coins until normal wear or routine replacement took it out of service. The 95% copper and 5% zinc composition of the planchet, the absence of a mint mark, and the Brenner obverse portrait paired with Gasparro's Memorial reverse are all standard for 1963 Philadelphia cents. With the coin shortage of 1965-67 on the near horizon, 1963 stands as one of the final years of conventional high-volume cent production at the Philadelphia facility.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1963 1¢ WDDO-055
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References