1970-S Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-001

Description

Holding the primary catalog designation for the 1970-S Washington quarter, WDDO-001 documents a spread toward the center on LIBERTY. As a proof issue from the San Francisco Mint, this clad quarter was produced for inclusion in the 1970 proof set, using polished dies and specially prepared planchets to achieve the mirror-field and frosted-device finish collectors expect. The Wexler Team cataloged this variety with no other known cross-references, and no significant die markers were noted on either the obverse or reverse. "Spread toward the center" describes a directional doubling where the secondary hub impression displaced the affected letters inward — toward the center of the die — rather than outward toward the rim. This inward-directed doubling produces a distinctive visual signature on LIBERTY that differs from the more common centrifugal spread seen in rotational Class I doubled dies. John Flanagan's obverse design placed LIBERTY along the left field in large letters, providing ample surface area for even subtle hub misalignments to produce detectable spread. San Francisco proof quarter production in 1970 totaled approximately 2.63 million sets. WDDO-001 establishes the baseline reference for any subsequent WDDO attributions for the 1970-S proof quarter.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John A. Wexler Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1970-S 25¢ Pr WDDO-001
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References