1962 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-055

Description

Distinguished by a strong spread directed toward the rim on the date numerals, the 1962 Lincoln Memorial Cent WDDO-055 presents one of the more visually accessible doubled die obverse varieties in the later portion of the 1962 WDDO catalog. The outward-directed spread pushes the secondary impression of each date digit away from the center of the die toward the coin's periphery, producing a doubling effect that grows more pronounced on the outer edges of the 1, 9, 6, and 2. This directional characteristic makes the date area the primary diagnostic zone, as the strong intensity rating means the separation between primary and secondary images is readily discernible under standard 10x magnification without requiring the exacting lighting angles demanded by closer spreads. The variety carries the Wexler Variety ID 1962 1c WDDO-055, with no other cross-references currently known, and was attributed by the Wexler Team. Obverse die markers include a die scratch running west-southwest to east-northeast positioned north of the date, along with short scratches extending northeast from the lower portion of Lincoln's nose. On the reverse, a die scratch oriented west-northwest to east-southeast appears below the left U in UNITED, a scratch runs south-southwest from the top of the first Memorial column, and numerous additional scratches are distributed across the reverse field. This variety was struck at the Philadelphia Mint during 1962 as a business-strike issue, produced as part of the massive run exceeding 606 million cents in what would be the final year of the original copper alloy composition before tin was removed from the formulation beginning in 1963.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Dean M. Hengst Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1962 1¢ WDDO-055
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References