1945-S Doubled Die Obverse DDO-005

Description

Fifth in the obverse doubled die census for the 1945-S Washington silver quarter, DDO-005 presents medium spread on IN GOD WE TRUST and the digit 1 of the date — a dual-zone doubling pattern on John Flanagan's Washington portrait design that has graced the quarter obverse since 1932. VarietyVista assigned identifiers UVC-0573 and DMR-007, documenting three die stages that trace this die's progressive deterioration. Stage A represents early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B reaches mid die state (unconfirmed), and Stage C shows late die state with a die crack developing across the upper hair and a light die crack across the bust, while the reverse has also progressed to LDS. The late die state confirmation at Stage C provides collectors with documented evidence of how far this die was used before retirement, with the progressive cracking offering intermediate die state benchmarks. Comments identify the reverse as MMS-004 (Ball serif), indicating the S mintmark was applied using a punch with rounded, ball-like serif terminals. San Francisco struck approximately 17.0 million silver quarters in 1945, the final year of World War II, using the standard 90% silver composition that would continue until 1964. The medium spread on IN GOD WE TRUST offers a reliable primary diagnostic, as the bold letters of the motto provide excellent surfaces for detecting hub doubling under moderate magnification. The affected digit 1 in the date supplements the motto doubling with a second confirmation zone. Collectors should examine IN GOD WE TRUST and the leading 1 of the date under 10-15x magnification, then verify the die identity by checking for the LDS die cracks described for Stage C and confirming the ball serif S mintmark style.

Die Markers

• UVC-0573
• DMR-007
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• Die crack across upper hair – LDS
• Light die crack across bust
• Reverse is LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by James Wiles
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References