1945-S Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-004

Description

Fourth doubled die reverse for the 1945 San Francisco Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, WDDR-004 extends the documented DDR population for the final year of World War II production at the West Coast facility. San Francisco had been producing cents throughout the war, contributing to the national effort alongside Philadelphia and Denver, and the 1945 date represents the transition period between wartime emergency operations and peacetime normalization. The hubbing process used to create working dies remained unchanged during this transition — the working hub still required multiple passes to transfer the complete reverse design, and any shift in hub-to-die alignment between passes produced doubled design elements. Four cataloged DDRs for the 1945-S issue reflects thorough variety research across a date with substantial surviving populations in circulated grades, as wartime cents were produced in enormous quantities and widely distributed. Victor David Brenner's wheat ears reverse, first introduced in 1909, was in its thirty-sixth year of production by 1945 and would continue until replaced by the Memorial reverse in 1959. Attributed by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID: 1945-S 1¢ WDDR-004, collectors should examine the wheat stalk interiors and lettering under magnification to confirm the specific doubling pattern that distinguishes this variety from the other three documented 1945-S DDRs.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1945-S 1¢ WDDR-004
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References