1909 VDDR VDDR-046

Description

Part of the prolific 1909 Lincoln Wheat cent VDDR family cataloged by VarietyVista, VDDR-046 is a separate working die from VDDR-044 despite sharing a similar diagnostic feature: a die crack through the upper right wheat grains to the rim. The critical distinction is die state — VDDR-046 exhibits this crack already at Early Die State, meaning the fracture was present from the die's earliest use or developed almost immediately upon entering service. By contrast, VDDR-044's crack does not appear until Mid-Die State, confirming they are two distinct steel dies with independent fracture histories. Both carry the shared hub doubling pattern common to the 1909 VDDR series, with light spread on reverse legend lettering corresponding to RDV-004 or RDV-003 (without V.D.B. initials). The presence of an identical crack location on two different dies is not uncommon, as stress concentrations in the same design elements can cause fractures in predictable zones across multiple dies. Obverse confirmed at Early Die State.

Die Markers

• UVC-????
• DMR-0??
• Stage A:
• Die crack upper Right wheat grains to rim – EDS
• Obverse is EDS
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Blaine Neupert
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References