2021-D Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-002

Description

Cataloged by the Wexler Team as 2021-D 1¢ WDDR-002 and submitted by Lynn Morace, this Lincoln Shield Cent exhibits slight doubling above the 9th vertical stripe on the shield — a subtle but diagnostically genuine doubled die reverse that affects a specific element within the Union shield design. The shield's thirteen vertical stripes, representing the original colonies, provide a grid-like reference system where even minor hub displacements can be precisely located by stripe number. Obverse die markers include a die crack running down the front of Lincoln's forehead — a progressive structural failure in one of the highest-relief areas of the obverse die. The reverse shows a die crack running along the top left of the shield, positioned north of the E PLU in E PLURIBUS UNUM, providing a second structural deterioration marker that confirms the specific die pairing. No cross-references to CONECA or other systems are currently known. The Lincoln Shield Cent was designed by Victor David Brenner for the obverse and Lyndall Bass for the reverse, featuring the Union shield design introduced in 2010 to replace the Lincoln Memorial reverse that had served from 1959. Struck at the Denver Mint in 2021 in copper-plated zinc (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) weighing 2.50 grams with a 19.05 mm diameter, the 2021-D cent was produced in quantities exceeding 4 billion pieces. The die crack on the forehead combined with the shield-area die crack documents a die pair where both dies were experiencing structural failure, suggesting both were in mid-to-late die state when this variety was produced. The shield design's geometric regularity — with its parallel vertical stripes and horizontal bands — makes it an effective substrate for identifying doubled die varieties, as even small displacements produce measurable shifts relative to the stripe geometry.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Jessy Gozum Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 2021-D 1¢ WDDR-002
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References