1947-S Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-004

Description

Fourth among the San Francisco Mint's documented 1947 Lincoln Wheat Cent doubled die obverses, WDDO-004 preserves a hub misalignment event from the early post-war period when the U.S. Mint was transitioning back to peacetime production standards. Cataloged by the Wexler Team as Wexler Variety ID 1947-S 1c WDDO-004, this variety emerged from a year that saw the San Francisco facility produce 99,000,000 Lincoln cents. The 1947-S represents the second year after the Mint returned from wartime shell-case brass to the traditional bronze alloy of 95% copper with 5% tin and zinc, though some transitional alloy variations have been debated among metallurgical researchers. Victor David Brenner's obverse portrait of Abraham Lincoln — by 1947 in continuous use for 38 years — provided the design elements susceptible to hub doubling: the strong right-facing profile, the IN GOD WE TRUST motto above, LIBERTY along the left field, and the date numerals at the lower right below the bust truncation. With four documented DDOs for the 1947-S alone, collectors face the challenge of precise attribution, which requires comparing the spread direction and intensity on each design element against the Wexler catalog entries for WDDO-001 through WDDO-004 (and beyond, if additional varieties have since been reported). No specific die markers have been published for WDDO-004, placing full diagnostic weight on the doubling characteristics themselves. A stereo microscope at 10x to 20x magnification offers the resolution needed to measure spread direction on individual date digits.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1947-S 1¢ WDDO-004
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References