1948-D Repunched Mintmark WRPM-022

Description

Die variety registration systems like the Wexler catalog serve a critical function in numismatics: they transform anonymous production artifacts into documented, attributable varieties that can be studied, collected, and traded with confidence. WRPM-022 on the 1948-D Lincoln Wheat Cent exemplifies this process — a working die on which Denver's D mint mark was punched more than once has been identified and assigned Wexler Variety ID 1948-D 1¢ WRPM-022 by the Wexler Team. The registration provides collectors with a fixed reference point: diagnostic die markers that distinguish this RPM from the twenty-one previously cataloged varieties and all those that follow. Denver's 1948 cent production operated within the postwar boom that characterized the late 1940s American economy, and the volume of working dies required to sustain that output is directly reflected in the number of documented repunching events. Hand-punching of the D mint mark was performed individually on each die, a process inherently variable enough to generate detectable misalignment on a predictable fraction of all dies prepared. None known cross-references exist outside the Wexler system for this variety at present.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Paul Funaiole Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1948-D 1¢ WRPM-022
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References