1962 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-015
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Description
Occupying a mid-range position in the extensive doubled die obverse catalog for the 1962 Lincoln Memorial Cent, DDO-015 exhibits a very light spread on LIBERTY characterized by notched upper left and lower right corners on the letters. Doubled die obverse varieties originate during the die manufacturing process, when the working hub is impressed into the working die more than once with a slight misalignment between impressions; the resulting die carries a doubled image that is then transferred to every coin struck from it. The notching pattern — where the upper left and lower right corners of individual letters show subtle extra thickness or secondary outlines — indicates a specific angular relationship between the two hub impressions, producing a diagonal displacement that manifests as corner-focused doubling rather than a uniform shift across the entire letter. This variety is cataloged under die marker references UVC-2019 and DMR-017. As a regular-strike (business strike) coin from the Philadelphia Mint's 1962 production of over 606 million cents, DDO-015 entered general circulation, meaning surviving examples may show varying degrees of wear that can complicate detection of the already subtle doubling. Collectors should examine the letters of LIBERTY at 10x magnification or higher, paying particular attention to the serifs and corners where the light spread is most apparent, and should compare suspect coins against confirmed reference images to distinguish the true hub doubling from the strike doubling and die deterioration doubling that can mimic similar effects on heavily used dies.
Die Markers
- UVC-2019; DMR-017