1961 Doubled Die Reverse DDR-005

Description

Light spread with extra thickness on STATES OF AMERICA and notched lower letters defines DDR-005 on the 1961 Franklin Half Dollar reverse. The notching effect — where the doubled impression creates small indentations along the bottom edges of the affected letters — provides a distinctive visual diagnostic that distinguishes hub doubling from the more uniform thickening seen with die deterioration doubling. Die stage tracking under UVC-169 and DMR-017 identifies three states: Stage A at Early Die State (unconfirmed), Stage B showing both reverse and obverse confirmed at Mid-Die State (MDS), and Stage C at Late Die State (unconfirmed). The reverse design of the Franklin Half Dollar features the Liberty Bell as its central motif, but the peripheral STATES OF AMERICA lettering where this doubling manifests provides the fine detail necessary for detecting hub displacement. The 1961 production year generated approximately 20.3 million business strikes at Philadelphia plus 3.2 million proof specimens, and the large combined output suggests that DDR-005 specimens may exist in collectible numbers for patient searchers. Cataloged by VarietyVista, this variety joins a growing register of Franklin Half Dollar reverse doubled dies that document die production conditions during the series' final production years before the 1964 transition to the Kennedy design.

Die Markers

• UVC-169
• DMR-017
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Reverse and Obverse are MDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Frank Baumann
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References