1948 (D) Lincoln Wheat Cent - Repunched Mintmark WRPM-024

Description

Repunched mint marks are classified by the direction of shift between initial and final punch applications — north, south, east, west, or diagonal combinations — and each direction tells a story about how the die setter's hand moved between blows. WRPM-024 on the 1948-D Lincoln Wheat Cent, attributed by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID 1948-D 1¢ WRPM-024, documents another working die bearing diagnostic evidence of the D being punched more than once. The specific direction and magnitude of the shift distinguish this variety from the twenty-three RPMs cataloged before it and all those documented after. Denver's 1948 cent production was driven by robust postwar economic activity — housing starts, automobile manufacturing, and retail expansion all demanded circulating coinage in quantities that pushed mint operations to high throughput. The large number of working dies consumed during that production is the fundamental reason so many RPMs exist for this date, since each die carried an independent chance of exhibiting repunching during the hand-punch process employed at all branch mints prior to 1989. No cross-references beyond the Wexler catalog are published for this variety.

Cross References

• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1948-D 1¢ WRPM-024

External References