1970-D Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-015

Description

Fifteenth in the Wexler doubled die obverse catalog for the 1970-D Lincoln cent, WDDO-015 continues the extraordinary sequence of hub doubling varieties that makes this date a cornerstone of Lincoln Memorial cent variety collecting. No cross-references to other attribution services have been published, placing the documentation burden entirely on Wexler's research files. The concept of hub doubling deserves particular attention in understanding why the 1970-D date generated so many varieties. During the hubbing process, a hardened master hub bearing the coin's design in positive relief was pressed into a softened working die blank to create the negative-relief impression needed for striking coins. Because full design transfer often required multiple hubbing impressions with intermediate annealing of the die steel, any shift in the relative position of hub and die between impressions — however slight — would produce overlapping design elements on the finished working die. The 1970-D cent's prolific DDO count strongly suggests that whatever mechanical conditions prevailed at the Denver Mint during this production period made such shifts unusually frequent. For the collector, WDDO-015 represents another opportunity to identify a variety through careful examination of 1970-D cents under magnification, focusing on the date area where even fractional vertical displacement of the secondary impression creates the most easily detected artifacts, particularly at the horizontal crossbar of the numeral 7.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Frank Baumann Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1970-D 1¢ WDDO-015
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References