2025 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-004

Description

Displaying Class VIII tilted hub doubling, this 2025 Jefferson Nickel WDDO-004 shows strong doubling on Jefferson's left eye and eyelid, with closer doubling visible on the right eye and nostril — a hub doubling pattern that manifests on facial features rather than text elements. Class VIII tilted hub doubling occurs when the hub is tilted during one of the hubbing impressions, creating a doubling spread that varies in intensity across the die face based on distance from the tilt axis. The stronger doubling on the left eye compared to the right eye and nostril is consistent with a tilt that produced greater displacement on one side of the portrait. Die markers include a die gouge inside the long left window and another die gouge above the long right window of Monticello on the reverse, with no significant obverse markers beyond the doubling itself. The 2025 Jefferson Nickel belongs to the Return to Monticello series (2006 to date), which restored Jamie Franki's forward-facing Jefferson portrait and Felix Schlag's Monticello reverse following the 2004-2005 Westward Journey interlude. Four documented DDOs for the 2025 date demonstrates that variety researchers are actively examining current-year coinage for hub doubling — a practice that ensures timely documentation rather than discovery decades after production. Facial feature doubling on portraits is particularly prized by collectors because it creates visually compelling anomalies: a doubled eye or eyelid produces an almost surreal effect where the portrait appears to have a second set of features. The Class VIII classification for this variety distinguishes it from the more common Class I through Class V mechanisms, as tilted hub doubling is less frequently encountered in the Jefferson Nickel series.

Die Markers

• Obverse: None noted.
• Reverse: Die gouge inside long left window; die gouge above long right window.

External References