2007 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-004

Description

Fourth obverse doubled die documented for the 2007 Lincoln Memorial cent, WDDO-004 exhibits moderate extra thickness on LIBERTY, the date, and the lower hair and beard details of Victor David Brenner's Lincoln portrait. The "moderate" spread designation places this variety between the subtle light category and the dramatic strong category, indicating the doubling produces visible thickened contours that are confirmable under standard magnification without requiring extreme enlargement. The lower hair and beard details are particularly informative diagnostics because the fine, individually sculpted hair strands in Brenner's portrait act as high-resolution indicators of hub displacement — even modest doubling creates noticeably thickened or blurred strand contours compared to a normally struck example. Obverse die markers are listed as not significant, but the reverse carries a distinctive diagnostic: a small die chip on the top left side of the first Memorial column. Die chips — small fragments of die steel that break away from the die surface — create raised, irregular bumps on struck coins, and this chip's specific location on the first column provides a precise fingerprint for confirming the correct die pair independent of the doubling itself. The Wexler Team documented this variety without additional cross-references from CONECA or other attribution services. Philadelphia struck approximately 3.76 billion cents in 2007, the penultimate year of full-scale Memorial reverse production before the 2008 final year and 2009 bicentennial transition. The combination of LIBERTY, date, and facial detail doubling covers both inscription elements and portrait features, indicating a hub displacement that affected a broad zone of the obverse die surface. Collectors should examine LIBERTY's letter strokes, the date numerals, and Lincoln's lower hair and beard under 10-15x magnification, then verify the die chip on the first Memorial column on the reverse to confirm attribution.

Die Markers

• Obverse: None significant. Reverse: A small die chip can be found on the top left side of the 1st Memorial column.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Wexler Team

External References