1946 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-009

Description

Ninth doubled die obverse for the 1946 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, DDO-009 exhibits a light and wide extra eyelid spreading to the south — a distinctive variety that manifests as a secondary eyelid line below Lincoln's actual eyelid on the obverse portrait. Extra eyelid varieties are among the most visually accessible forms of hub doubling on Lincoln Cents because the human face is a design element that viewers instinctively scrutinize, and any anomaly in the facial features tends to register immediately even without magnification. The southward direction of the spread indicates that the hub was displaced slightly downward relative to the die during one of the multiple hubbing impressions, causing the eyelid detail to be impressed at two vertically offset positions. VarietyVista catalogs this variety with die markers UVC-1723 and DMR-015 across three stages: Early Die State is unconfirmed, Stage B at Mid Die State captures both obverse and reverse, and Late Die State remains unconfirmed. The 1946 Lincoln Cent marked the return to peacetime copper-alloy cent production after the wartime shell case composition of 1944-1945 and the zinc-coated steel of 1943, with Philadelphia striking 991,655,000 coins — approaching the billion-coin threshold that would create conditions favorable for numerous die varieties. The wide extra eyelid characteristic of DDO-009 distinguishes it from tight or close eyelid doubling found on other 1946 DDO varieties, where the secondary line appears adjacent to rather than separated from the primary eyelid. This width provides an authentication advantage, as wide separations are more difficult to replicate through mechanical doubling or die deterioration. Attributed by VarietyVista.

Die Markers

• UVC-1723
• DMR-015
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Obverse and Reverse are MDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Brian Ribar
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References