1939 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-007

Description

Cataloged by the Wexler Team with no other known cross-references, WDDO-007 on the 1939 Philadelphia Mercury dime features a spread towards the center on the date — a Class II distorted hub doubling pattern where the numerals show inward displacement from a hub that was slightly expanded or shifted during the die-making process. Adolph Weinman's Mercury dime design (1916-1945), with its winged Liberty cap often mistaken for the Roman god Mercury, carries fine engraving detail that reveals even subtle hub doubling. Obverse die markers are distinctive: a small die gouge sits below the right end of the horizontal crossbar of the T in LIBERTY, and a SSW/NNE die crack runs through the neck and well into the bonnet — a significant crack path that becomes more prominent in later die states. The reverse carries its own diagnostics: a die gouge inside the U in UNITED, and a die scratch running ESE from the lower right side of the fasces (the bundled rods-and-axe motif that occupies the reverse center). Struck during the Depression era when mintages had not yet fully recovered from their early-1930s lows, the 1939 Philadelphia dime saw a production run of over 67 million pieces. The combination of centered date doubling with the prominent neck-to-bonnet die crack gives WDDO-007 two strong diagnostic pickup points for cherry-picking.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Thomas McGowan Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1939 10¢ WDDO-007
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References