1946 Lincoln Wheat Cent - Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-038

Description

Deep into the 1946 DDO sequence at position thirty-eight, this variety contributes to the extraordinary total that makes 1946 one of the benchmark years for Lincoln cent hub doubling research. Philadelphia's postwar cent production of over 991 million pieces — nearly a billion — drove die consumption to levels that generated an outsized number of hubbing alignment failures. Wexler Variety ID: 1946 1¢ WDDO-038. Varieties at this position in the catalog typically present subtle doubling that requires practiced observation under controlled lighting and adequate magnification, distinguishing genuine hub displacement from die deterioration doubling (DDD) or strike doubling, which are mechanical artifacts of the striking process rather than die preparation errors. The 1946 Wheat Cent was still struck in the wartime 95% copper, 5% zinc alloy, and die preparation procedures evidently continued producing misalignment events at a significant rate. No die markers or competing cross-references exist.

Cross References

• Wexler Variety ID: 1946 1¢ WDDO-038

External References