1938 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-007

Description

From the inaugural year of the Jefferson Nickel series, WDDO-007 captures a hub misalignment event on one of the very first working dies to carry Felix Schlag's new obverse portrait of Thomas Jefferson. Attributed by Lou Coles and cataloged under Wexler Variety ID 1938 WDDO-007, this variety occupies the seventh position among documented 1938 DDOs — a relatively high count for a first-year issue that signals either heavy die usage during the debut production run or concentrated collector attention to this numismatically significant year. Schlag's design won a national competition held in 1938 to select the Jefferson portrait, and the first-year dies were freshly engraved from Schlag's approved models, making any hub doubling on these dies a window into the die-making process during the series' birth year. The 1938 Jefferson Nickel was struck only at Philadelphia (no mintmark), with a total production of 19,515,365 pieces — modest by later standards but sufficient to establish the design in circulation and generate the working die population from which seven or more DDOs emerged. Lou Coles's attribution indicates this variety was documented through the Coles die variety research network before being incorporated into the Wexler catalog. The 75% copper, 25% nickel composition at 5.0 grams and 21.21mm diameter established the specifications that would continue unchanged through the present day (excepting the 1942-1945 wartime silver alloy period). First-year-of-issue DDOs carry inherent collector appeal because they document manufacturing variability at the inception of a design series, and WDDO-007 offers that first-year provenance in a variety that demands careful examination under magnification to separate from the six preceding catalog entries.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Lou Coles
• Wexler Variety ID: 1938 WDDO-007
• Expert attribution by Lou Coles

External References