2003 Doubled Die Reverse DDR-005

Description

Strong eastward spread creates a ghost-image duplicate of column number six — specifically the section from knee height to the pedestal base — on the Lincoln Memorial reverse of this 2003 Philadelphia Mint cent. VarietyVista catalogs this as DDR-005 with die markers UVC-2939 and DMR-008, documenting three die stages: Stage A shows both reverse and obverse in Early Die State (EDS), while Stages B (Mid Die State) and C (Late Die State) remain unconfirmed, suggesting that positively identified specimens have so far come only from early die impressions. The Lincoln Memorial reverse, designed by Frank Gasparro and introduced in 1959, depicts the memorial's twelve columns, interior statue of Lincoln, and inscribed frieze — architectural detail that serves as an exceptionally sensitive indicator of hub doubling. Column six sits in the right-center portion of the building facade, and the strong eastward displacement on DDR-005 produces one of the more visually dramatic doubled die effects among the 2003-P cent varieties. The Philadelphia Mint struck approximately 3.3 billion cents in 2003, consuming thousands of die pairs throughout the year. Hub doubling occurs during the die-making process when the hub — a positive master — fails to align perfectly with its prior impression on the die blank during the multi-step hubbing sequence, and the resulting misalignment transfers to every coin struck from that die.

Die Markers

• UVC-2939
• DMR-008
• Stage A:
• Reverse and Obverse are EDS
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Dennis Fisher
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References