1944 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-001

Description

Cataloged by the Wexler Team, WDDR-001 on the 1944 Philadelphia Mint Mercury Dime documents very light hub doubling visible across all reverse letters, E PLURIBUS UNUM, the dots, stars, and the fasces central to Adolph Weinman's reverse design. Struck in 90% silver, the Mercury Dime's reverse features the fasces bound by an olive branch, symbolizing strength tempered by peace, surrounded by the national motto and decorative elements. The very light intensity across all these elements indicates a subtle hub displacement that spread secondary impressions uniformly rather than concentrating doubling on specific design zones. This comprehensive but delicate spread requires careful examination under magnification to distinguish from die deterioration doubling. The 1944 Philadelphia Mercury Dime belongs to the penultimate year of the series before its replacement by John R. Sinnock's Roosevelt Dime in 1946. The Mercury Dime ran from 1916 through 1945, making the 1944 date a late-series issue. The uniform light spread across letters, motto, dots, stars, and fasces creates a whole-die diagnostic pattern where confirmation relies on detecting consistent subtle displacement across multiple reverse design elements on this World War II era silver dime. Very light extra thickness and a spread toward the center shows on all the letters around the rim, EPU, all the dots, all the stars, the bottom of the fasces and the leaf tips. Die Markers: Obverse: Die scratch NW from left center of the R in LIBERTY. Reverse: Long die gouge east from the right lower side of the fasces running through the top of DI and to the M of DIME.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Whaden Curtis Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1944 10¢ WDDR-001
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References