1965 Doubled Die Reverse DDR-007

Description

Seventh doubled die reverse cataloged for the 1965 Kennedy half dollar, DDR-007 shows medium spread on UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the stars positioned beneath those letters, and the stars arranged between the heraldic eagle's rays. Gilroy Roberts designed the Kennedy obverse and Frank Gasparro created the heraldic eagle reverse for this series, which debuted in 1964 following President Kennedy's assassination and transitioned to 40% silver-clad composition beginning in 1965. VarietyVista assigned identifiers UVC-394 and DMR-016, documenting three die stages: Stage A with reverse and obverse at early die state, Stage B at mid die state (unconfirmed), and Stage C where both reverse and obverse have progressed to late die state. The LDS confirmation for Stage C demonstrates this die served through its full production life before retirement, providing collectors with documented die state progression from EDS through LDS. The comment notation "BS" indicates this variety was struck as a business strike (circulation issue) rather than a proof or Special Mint Set (SMS) coin — a critical distinction for 1965-1970 Kennedy halves where SMS coins received a different manufacturing process. Philadelphia produced approximately 65.9 million Kennedy halves in 1965, the first year of the reduced-silver composition that dropped from the 1964 issue's 90% silver to 40% silver clad. Medium spread across the upper inscription and both star groups — those beneath UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and those between the rays — indicates the hub misalignment affected a broad swath of the upper reverse, with the star elements' compact geometry making even moderate displacement visually detectable under 10-15x magnification. The heraldic eagle's ray design creates natural reference lines against which displaced star images can be readily compared.

Die Markers

• UVC-394
• DMR-016
• Stage A:
• Reverse and and Obverse are EDS
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Reverse and Obverse are LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Timothy Wissert
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References