1957 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-011

Description

Identified by the Wexler Team under the designation 1957 1¢ WDDO-011, this Lincoln Wheat Cent doubled die obverse is most readily diagnosed by an extra eyelid visible below Lincoln's normal eyelid — a feature that makes portrait-area doubling one of the most satisfying diagnostics in the DDO collecting field because it transforms an abstract concept (hub displacement) into an immediately recognizable anatomical anomaly. The obverse die carries a small die gouge to the left of the bottom of the R in TRUST, while the reverse exhibits a small die gouge between the bottoms of R and I in PLURIBUS, a die gouge below the N in UNUM, and a die break on the lower right of the T in CENT. No other cross-references are currently known. The extra eyelid diagnostic places the hub displacement along a roughly vertical axis — enough to produce a secondary impression of the eyelid's curved line below the primary one, yet not enough to create noticeable separation on broader design elements like the bust truncation or lapel. Among Lincoln Cent collectors, eyelid doubling ranks as one of the most frequently discussed DDO features because it can often be detected with a standard 5x loupe, making in-hand examination at coin shows practical. The 1957 Philadelphia issue saw production of approximately 282.5 million cents, the penultimate year of the Wheat Cent reverse design before Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse debuted in 1959. WDDO-011's eleventh catalog position confirms a substantial DDO population for this date.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Elvin Ramos Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1957 1¢ WDDO-011
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References