2023 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-028

Description

Spanning multiple architectural features of the Monticello facade, Class VIII tilted hub doubling on this 2023-P Jefferson nickel affects the tops of T, I, and C in MONTICELLO, the top step of the center staircase, the top of column 1, and the bottom of the large semicircular window. Attributed by Brian A. Ribar with the Wexler designation 2023-P WDDR-028, this variety illustrates how a single tilt event during hubbing can distribute its effects across widely separated design elements. Tilted hub doubling characteristically produces stronger displacement at points farther from the tilt axis, and the simultaneous appearance of doubling on the window, column, step, and letters suggests the tilt axis ran roughly perpendicular to these elements. No obverse die markers were noted. The reverse carries a single documented marker: a die scratch positioned to the lower right of the F in OF. The 2023-P Jefferson nickel continues the Return to Monticello reverse that has been in use since 2006, when the Mint reverted from the Westward Journey designs to a refined version of Felix Schlag's original Monticello. The building's rich architectural vocabulary -- columns, windows, pediment, steps, and entablature -- makes it one of the most productive reverse designs in all of U.S. coinage for generating visible doubled die varieties, because numerous parallel lines and geometric shapes respond to even minor hub displacement. WDDR-028 sits among dozens of DDR varieties documented for the 2023-P nickel, underscoring the sustained intensity with which modern variety specialists examine contemporary coinage. Philadelphia's annual nickel production typically exceeds one billion pieces, ensuring that each documented DDR represents output from just one die among thousands deployed during the production year.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Brian A. Ribar
• Wexler Variety ID: 2023-P WDDR-028
• Expert attribution by Brian A. Ribar

External References