1944 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-012

Description

Cataloged by VarietyVista with UVC-3064 and DMR-016, DDO-012 on the 1944 Philadelphia Lincoln wheat cent delivers strong southward spread visible as an extra eyelid and strong extra thickness on the date, IN GOD WE TRUST, and LIBERTY. The extra eyelid — a secondary impression of Lincoln's eyelid displaced downward from the primary — is one of the most popular pickup points among variety collectors because it is both visually striking and relatively easy to spot under moderate magnification. Three die stages are tracked: Stage A in early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B in mid-die state (unconfirmed), and Stage C where both obverse and reverse reach late die state, meaning the die shows accumulated wear, flow lines, and minor deterioration. The 1944 cent was struck on brass-composition planchets (95% copper, 5% zinc) adopted in 1944 after the wartime 1943 zinc-coated steel cents proved unpopular. Philadelphia produced over 1.4 billion cents that year — the highest wheat cent mintage to that point — as wartime industrial demands and returning servicemen drove coin circulation to extraordinary levels. Despite that massive mintage, DDO-012 represents output from a single die pair, limiting its population to whatever that one die produced before retirement.

Die Markers

• UVC-3064
• DMR-016
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Obverse and Reverse are LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Mike Pegahi
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References