1945 (D) Lincoln Wheat Cent - Repunched Mintmark RPM-012

Description

Cataloged by VarietyVista under Universal Variety Catalog code UVC-199 with die marriage reference DMR-014, the 1945-D RPM-012 Lincoln Wheat Cent documents a repunched mintmark where the Denver D was applied multiple times to the working die, leaving remnants of the earlier impression visible beneath or beside the final punch. Three die states have been recorded for this variety: Stage A shows both the obverse and reverse in early die state (EDS), Stage B transitions to mid-die-state (MDS) on both faces, and Stage C is listed as late die state but remains unconfirmed — meaning no specimen has yet been positively identified in LDS condition, leaving the full extent of this die's production life incompletely documented. The progression from EDS through MDS provides collectors with identifiable die-state markers that help sequence when individual coins were struck relative to each other during the die's service. The Lincoln Wheat Cent was designed by Victor David Brenner for the obverse portrait of Abraham Lincoln, with the reverse wheat ears design serving from 1909 through 1958. Struck at the Denver Mint in 1945 during the final months of World War II, this cent was produced in the wartime brass composition of 95% copper and 5% zinc, weighing 3.11 grams with a diameter of 19.05 mm, the copper alloy that replaced the wartime 1943 zinc-coated steel cents. Repunched mintmarks on 1940s Lincoln Cents are products of the manual mintmark application process, where a small steel letter punch was hammered by hand into each working die at the branch mint, and slight misalignment on the initial strike necessitated corrective re-punching that created the diagnostic doubled-letter patterns sought by variety collectors today.

Die Markers

• UVC-199
• DMR-014
• Stage A:
• Obverse and Reverse are EDS
• Stage B:
• Obverse and Reverse are MDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

External References