1963 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-001

Description

Transitioning from Denver Mint varieties to Philadelphia production, the 1963 Lincoln Memorial Cent WDDO-001 is the first cataloged doubled die obverse for the P-mint issue of this year, which was struck without a mint mark as was standard practice for Philadelphia coinage. The Philadelphia Mint produced 754,110,000 business-strike cents in 1963, along with 3,075,645 proof specimens, making it a substantially lower-mintage issue than its Denver counterpart but still among the more heavily produced Philadelphia cents of the era. Doubled die obverse varieties arise when the working hub and working die are fractionally out of alignment during one of the multiple impressions required to transfer the design, and the resulting secondary image becomes a permanent feature of the die. The obverse die markers for WDDO-001 are well documented: die scratches run north from the top left of the B and the top right of the E in LIBERTY, and numerous other die scratches can be found throughout the obverse, providing an extensive network of attribution points. On the reverse, a small die gouge can be found inside the bottom of the N in UNITED, a small die gouge appears below the D in UNITED, parallel die scratches run southwest to northeast at the bottom of the second Memorial bay, and numerous die scratches are present throughout the reverse. This abundance of die markers on both sides makes WDDO-001 one of the more attributable DDO varieties for the 1963 Philadelphia cent. The coin was struck on the standard 95% copper and 5% zinc planchet, carrying Brenner's obverse portrait and Gasparro's Memorial reverse. The variety is cataloged under Wexler Variety ID 1963 1c WDDO-001.

Die Markers

• Obverse: Die scratches run north from the top left of the B and the top right of the E in LIBERTY. Numerous other die scratches can be found throughout the obverse. Reverse: A small die gouge can be found inside the bottom of the N in UNITED. A small die gouge can be found below the D in UNITED. Parallel die scratches run SW/NE at the bottom of the second Memorial bay. Numerous die scratches can be found throughout the reverse.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Wexler Team

External References