1962 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-042

Description

Accompanied by a pair of prominent die markers that serve as reliable identification anchors, the 1962 Lincoln Memorial Cent WDDO-042 is a regular-strike doubled die obverse variety whose obverse carries a strong die gouge in the field left of Lincoln's shoulder — a bold feature visible at relatively low magnification that immediately narrows the attribution search. On the reverse, a die gouge below and to the right of the I in UNITED provides a second identification checkpoint, giving collectors a practical two-step screening procedure: verify the shoulder gouge on the obverse, confirm the I gouge on the reverse, and then proceed to examine the doubling characteristics under higher magnification. This two-marker approach is especially valuable in the context of 1962 cent variety collecting, where the discovery of four different doubled working hubs produced a proliferation of WDDO varieties that can share similar doubling profiles due to their common hub ancestry. In such cases, the individual die markers — unique to each working die — become the definitive attribution tools that separate one variety from another within the same hub family. WDDO-042 was struck at the Philadelphia Mint during 1962, the final year that the Lincoln cent was produced in its original 95% copper, 5% tin-and-zinc alloy composition before the alloy modification of 1963. The massive production run exceeding 606 million cents required cycling through hundreds of obverse dies, each one a potential carrier of hub-inherited or die-specific doubling, and WDDO-042 stands as one of the documented results of this prolific die production cycle.

Die Markers

• Obverse: A strong die gouge can be found in the field to the left of the shoulder. Reverse: A die gouge can be found just below the right side of the I in UNITED.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Wexler Team

External References