1918-D Repunched Mintmark WRPM-003

Description

Third documented repunched mint mark for the 1918 Denver Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, WRPM-003 preserves a doubled D mint mark created by the hand-punching process that was the standard method of applying mint marks to United States coin dies for most of the twentieth century. Each working die destined for branch mint use received its mint mark through a manual operation: a steel punch bearing the letter D was positioned on the die face below the date and struck with a mallet, and any imprecision between an initial punch and a corrective second blow left overlapping impressions that transferred to every coin struck from that die. The 1918-D cent occupies a significant historical position — it was struck during the final year of World War I, when the Denver Mint was producing coinage for a wartime economy with intense demand for circulating small change. No additional cross-references are currently known beyond the Wexler Variety ID: 1918-D 1-cent WRPM-003, and the variety was attributed by the Wexler Team. With only three documented repunched mint marks for the 1918-D date, this represents a modest count compared to later Wheat Cent dates where dozens of RPMs have been cataloged, reflecting either lower die production volumes at Denver in 1918, less thorough examination of surviving coins, or genuinely fewer punching errors during this period. Lincoln Wheat Cents from the World War I era are collected as both date-series coins and wartime issues, and repunched mint mark varieties add a die variety dimension to an already historically interesting date. The manual mint mark application process continued at the United States Mint until 1989, when mint marks began to be included directly in the master hub, eliminating the possibility of repunched mint marks on subsequent issues.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Lloyd Hanson Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1918-D 1¢ WRPM-003
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References