1957-D Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-003

Description

Third in the Wexler-documented obverse doubled die census for the 1957-D Lincoln wheat cent, WDDO-003 shows a southward spread on the letters of LIBERTY and the digits 19 in the date. Victor David Brenner's Lincoln portrait has appeared on the cent obverse since 1909, and by 1957 the wheat reverse design was in its penultimate full year of production before the switch to Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse in 1959. Denver struck approximately 1.05 billion cents in 1957, making it one of the higher-mintage wheat cent dates and ensuring that working dies saw intensive use across long production runs. The southward directional spread — indicating the secondary hub impression landed below the primary — affects both the left-side inscription LIBERTY and the first two digits of the date, suggesting a broad angular displacement rather than a localized distortion. The Wexler Team cataloged this variety under Wexler Variety ID: 1957-D 1¢ WDDO-003, with obverse die markers noted for Stage A but no specific diagnostic details beyond the doubling itself recorded in the available documentation. Cross-references include the "s:" notation in the original source data, suggesting additional attribution system listings may exist but were incompletely captured. Collectors searching for this variety should examine the serifs and vertical strokes of LIBERTY under 10-15x magnification, where southward displacement is most readily apparent as a secondary shadow below the primary letter impressions, and compare the 19 digits against confirmed normal examples from the same Denver die run.

Attribution History

• s:; Wexler Variety ID: 1957-D 1¢ WDDO-003
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References