1968 Variety WMDO-001

Description

The Philadelphia counterpart to the 1968-D WMDO-001, this listing documents the same master die doubling event on 1968 Philadelphia Roosevelt dimes — a spread toward the center on LIB of LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST that was built into the master die and consequently inherited by every working die produced for the 1968 coinage year across all three mint facilities. The Wexler Team cataloged this as Wexler Variety ID: 1968 10c WMDO-001, noting identical die marker behavior to the Denver variant: obverse and reverse die markers will vary on each working die, since the doubling exists at the master die level and propagates identically through all downstream tooling. Philadelphia struck approximately 424.5 million dimes in 1968, the first year that all three facilities — Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco (proof only) — shared the same doubled master die. John Sinnock designed the Roosevelt dime obverse, which debuted in 1946 to honor President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the LIB portion of LIBERTY along with the IGWT motto occupy the upper obverse field where the inward spread manifests. The universal nature of this variety means that while every 1968 dime technically qualifies as WMDO-001, the doubling's visibility varies enormously depending on the specific working die's generation and condition — some coins will show clearly detectable spread under moderate magnification, while others from later-generation dies may require high-power examination to resolve any doubling at all. This makes WMDO-001 an educational variety that illustrates the hierarchical die production system.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John A. Wexler Cross References: None known Comments: Because this is a doubled master die, all working dies for the 1968 P, D, and S-Mint proof Roosevelt dimes had this doubling. Consequently, all 1968 dated Roosevelt dimes have this doubling making it interesting, but worthless. How well the doubling is seen will vary depending on working hub state, working die state, and coin wear.
• None known Comments: Because this is a doubled master die, all working dies for the 1968 P, D, and S-Mint proof Roosevelt dimes had this doubling. Consequently, all 1968 dated Roosevelt dimes have this doubling making it interesting, but worthless. How well the doubling is seen will vary depending on working hub state, working die state, and coin wear.; Wexler Variety ID: 1968 10¢ WMDO-001
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References