1964-D Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-022

Description

Completing this batch of 1964-D doubled die reverse entries, WDDR-022 (Wexler Variety ID: 1964-D 1¢ WDDR-022, attributed by the Wexler Team) extends the DDR catalog for a date whose variety population reflects the sheer industrial scale of its production. The Denver Mint's 1964 output of 3,799,071,500 Lincoln cents — struck to combat a coin shortage that had become a national economic concern — required an unprecedented number of working dies, each individually manufactured through the multi-impression hubbing process. The reverse working hub, bearing the Lincoln Memorial design by Frank Gasparro, was pressed into each die blank multiple times under hydraulic force, and any fractional displacement of the hub between these impressions produced a secondary image that became a permanent characteristic of that die. WDDR-022 preserves one such hubbing anomaly, joining the more than twenty other doubled die reverse varieties now cataloged for this single date and mint mark combination. The depth of this catalog reflects both the enormous number of independent hubbing sessions that occurred during 1964-D die production and the systematic examination efforts of variety specialists who have searched through the vast surviving population of 1964-D cents. Despite these efforts, the pool of unexamined coins remains far larger than the pool of examined ones, leaving significant potential for additional DDR discoveries from this date. The 1964-D cent was the final Denver Mint Lincoln cent to bear a mint mark before the three-year suspension beginning in 1965. Struck on a 95% copper and 5% tin-zinc planchet at 3.11 grams and 19mm diameter.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1964-D 1¢ WDDR-022
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References