1939 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-010

Description

Notable for its unusual doubling manifestation, the 1939 Lincoln Wheat Cent WDDO-010 shows a doubled eyelid just north of the primary eyelid on Lincoln's portrait — a highly localized form of hub doubling that affects only a small area of the design while leaving other elements undoubled or with imperceptible displacement. Eyelid doubling is a distinctive diagnostic because it appears on a curved, delicate feature of the portrait where even minimal hub misalignment produces a visible secondary line. Attributed by the Wexler Team as 1939 1c WDDO-010, the variety carries die markers that confirm this specific working die: a long die scratch running north-by-east from the top of the L in LIBERTY on the obverse, and a die scratch from the top of Lincoln's head northeast to the first T in TRUST. On the reverse, a die scratch oriented NNW/SSE connects the F of OF to the N in UNITED. No other cross-references are currently known. The 1939 Lincoln Wheat Cent was produced in the year World War II began in Europe, though the United States would not enter the conflict for another two years. Philadelphia's 1939 cent production exceeded 316 million coins, consuming substantial numbers of working dies across the year's production run. Ten doubled die obverses documented for this date reflects the steady accumulation of variety discoveries as researchers examined pre-war Wheat Cents with modern attribution tools. The eyelid doubling on WDDO-010 exemplifies the kind of localized hub displacement that can occur when the pivot point of the misalignment falls near the center of the die face, minimizing spread near the pivot while potentially producing wider displacement at the periphery — though in this case, the eyelid happens to fall at a position where even small movement is readily visible.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Bill Wilson Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1939 1¢ WDDO-010
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References