1945 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-003

Description

Third doubled die obverse for the 1945 Philadelphia Wheat Cent, the final year of shell-case brass composition before the Mint's 1946 return to standard bronze. Philadelphia's output of over 1.04 billion cents in 1945 ranked among the highest annual production figures in the Wheat Cent series, ensuring extensive die usage and multiple opportunities for hubbing misalignment. Wexler Variety ID: 1945 1¢ WDDO-003. Position three in the Wexler sequence places this among the more prominent DDO varieties for the date — the convention of assigning lower numbers to stronger or more significant varieties means WDDO-003 likely exhibits more pronounced separation than the higher-numbered entries such as WDDO-005 also cataloged for 1945. The wartime shell-case brass planchets are identifiable through their slightly different copper-zinc ratio compared to pre-war bronze, and certification services sometimes note the alloy distinction on their holders. No supplementary die markers or competing cross-references have been published for this working die.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1945 1¢ WDDO-003
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References