1946-D Doubled Die Obverse DDO-016

Description

Sixteenth in the extensive obverse doubled die census for Denver's inaugural Roosevelt dime, DDO-016 presents medium spread on the date, designer's initials JS, and the motto IN GOD WE TRUST — the same triad of diagnostic elements affected across much of the 1946-D DDO family, but resolved through unique die identifiers. VarietyVista assigned UVC-084 and DMR-048, with three die stages tracked: Stage A at early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B where both obverse and reverse surfaces are confirmed at mid die state, and Stage C at late die state (unconfirmed). The MDS confirmation for Stage B distinguishes DDO-016's die state documentation from its immediate census neighbors DDO-014 and DDO-015, which carry LDS confirmations at Stage C instead — a difference that indicates the documented specimens of DDO-016 were captured at an earlier point in the die's working life than those of its neighbors. John R. Sinnock designed the Roosevelt dime as a memorial tribute, and his obverse portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt facing left places the date at the lower left and the motto IN GOD WE TRUST along the lower rim, with his JS initials at the base of the neck truncation. The obverse design variant ODV-001 notation links DDO-016 to the same hub lineage shared by DDO-003, DDO-014, and DDO-015, reinforcing the observation that a single obverse design variant gave rise to multiple independently doubled working dies during Denver's 1946 production run of approximately 61.04 million dimes. The medium spread classification and top-to-bottom spread direction on DDO-016 place it within the moderate visibility tier — doubling that rewards deliberate inspection under 10-15x magnification but does not produce the immediately obvious separation seen on strong spread varieties. Collectors building a comprehensive 1946-D DDO die study should photograph each specimen alongside its UVC and DMR numbers to maintain accurate attribution records across this densely populated census.

Die Markers

• UVC-084
• DMR-048
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Obverse and Reverse are MDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Timothy Wissert
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References