1939 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-014

Description

Class II distorted hub doubling on the 1939 Jefferson Nickel manifests as very close spread on E PLURIBUS UNUM, a diagnostic best appreciated under 7x magnification where the serif edges of each letter reveal secondary outlines offset from the primary impressions. John A. Wexler cataloged this variety under ID 1939 WDDR-014 within the Jefferson Nickels Original Design series that ran from Felix Schlag's competition-winning debut in 1938 through the 2003 conclusion of the original Monticello reverse. Obverse die markers fix attribution: a die gouge sits below the B of LIBERTY while a slanted die scratch appears below the U of TRUST, both consistent across all known specimens and indicating these features were present in the die from its earliest use. On the reverse, slanted die scratches cut through the M of MONTICELLO and a die gouge forming a small dot appears to the left of the upper portion of the small left window — details that match the architectural rendering of Thomas Jefferson's Virginia estate. Philadelphia produced 120,627,535 Jefferson Nickels in 1939, the second year of the series, when the Depression-era Mint was still refining its tooling for Schlag's design. Class II doubling results from distortion within the hub itself rather than rotational or pivotal misalignment, producing a characteristically tight spread pattern that can be difficult to distinguish from die deterioration without careful comparison to confirmed specimens.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John A. Wexler
• Wexler Variety ID: 1939 WDDR-014
• Expert attribution by John A. Wexler

External References