1963-D Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-025

Description

Carrying the Wexler Variety ID 1963-D 1c WDDO-025, this Doubled Die Obverse of the 1963-D Lincoln Memorial Cent exhibits an extra eyelid south of the main eyelid on Lincoln's portrait — the defining doubled die characteristic for this variety. The extra eyelid feature is a reliable diagnostic for hub doubling because it represents a clearly separated secondary impression of the delicate eye area, a region where even slight misalignment during the hubbing process produces a visible duplication that cannot be replicated by strike doubling or die deterioration. Finding WDDO-025 in circulation or in dealer junk boxes requires patience and systematic technique: the collector should position the coin under a desk lamp at a low angle and use at least a 7x loupe, examining the eye area first for the telltale secondary eyelid line before checking other obverse elements. The 1963-D cent was struck at the Denver Mint in a production run of 1,774,020,400 pieces — one of the highest mintages in the entire Lincoln cent series — making these coins extraordinarily common in aggregate but individually scarce in any specific doubled die variety. With hundreds of die pairs required to produce nearly 1.8 billion coins, each WDDO number represents the output of a single die whose production life was a tiny fraction of the total run. No additional cross-references beyond the Wexler catalog are currently known. The coin features Victor David Brenner's obverse portrait and Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse, struck in the standard 95% copper and 5% zinc composition used from 1962 through 1982.

Attribution History

• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1963-D 1¢ WDDO-025
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References