1946-D Doubled Die Reverse DDR-002

Description

Light spread on the left wheat stalk, the U of UNITED, and the O of OF identifies this 1946-D Lincoln wheat cent as DDR-002, a variety from the first full post-war production year when the Denver Mint resumed normal copper alloy striking after wartime zinc-coated steel composition experiments. VarietyVista assigned UVC-1730 with die markers reference DMR-026, documenting three stages. Stage A at early die state remains unconfirmed. Stage B reveals the reverse at mid-die-state with an additional attribution bonus: a minor triple split serif repunched mintmark visible at MDS, indicating this die also carries RPM characteristics alongside the doubled die reverse. Stage C at late die state is unconfirmed. The coincidence of both DDR and RPM features on a single die adds significant variety interest, as die marriages exhibiting multiple variety types are particularly valued by specialists who cross-collect between error categories. The left wheat stalk on Victor David Brenner's iconic reverse design consists of multiple thin grain heads and stems that register hub doubling as visible spread between the individual kernels and stalks. Denver produced 315.7 million cents in 1946, the beginning of a post-war production surge as returning soldiers and a reviving consumer economy demanded massive quantities of small change. The wheat cent design had been in production for 37 years by this point, and the aging master hub continued to transfer varieties that modern attribution specialists would eventually catalog decades later. Confirmation of DDR-002 requires identifying the light spread on the specified design elements while also noting whether the RPM markers from Stage B are present on the examined specimen.

Die Markers

• UVC-1730
• DMR-026
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Reverse is MDS
• Minor triple split serif RPM – MDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Larry Patterson
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References