1964-D Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-008

Description

The Wexler Doubled Die Files catalog the 1964-D WDDO-008 as the eighth distinct doubled obverse die identified for the Denver Mint's 1964 Lincoln Memorial Cent production. Discovering eight or more DDO varieties for a single date-and-mint combination is unremarkable in Lincoln cent numismatics, where the combination of massive mintages and decades of collector scrutiny has yielded extensive variety catalogs for many dates. What sets the 1964-D apart is the sheer magnitude of its production: 3,799,071,500 coins from the Denver facility alone, a figure that required thousands of working dies and correspondingly thousands of individual hubbing sessions. The multi-impression hubbing process was vulnerable to fractional hub displacement between any two of the multiple impressions needed to sink the design to proper depth, and across thousands of hubbing sessions, this vulnerability was realized many times. WDDO-008 preserves one such event, carrying the doubled obverse created by hub displacement on a regular-strike die that served in the Denver Mint's high-speed production line. The coin shortage that drove this extraordinary output also triggered the most significant change to United States coinage practices in decades: Congress ordered the removal of mint marks beginning in 1965, making the 1964-D cent the last Denver-minted Lincoln cent to bear the D mark until 1968. Collectors examining 1964-D cents for this variety should focus on the obverse design elements under magnification, looking for the diagnostic doubling pattern and any die-specific markers. The coin was struck as a circulation piece on a 95% copper and 5% tin-zinc planchet weighing 3.11 grams, bearing Brenner's Lincoln portrait and Gasparro's Memorial reverse.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Wexler Team

External References