1963 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-005

Description

Fifth cataloged doubled die obverse for the 1963 Roosevelt Silver Dime, DDO-005 presents strong spread on the designer's initials JS — the monogram of John R. Sinnock, who designed the Roosevelt Dime obverse, positioned at the truncation of Roosevelt's neck. Strong doubling on the designer's initials is a significant attribution point because these small incuse letters represent one of the finest details on the die face, making them among the first elements to show detectable spread when hub doubling occurs. The VarietyVista catalog records this variety as UVC-400 and DMR-007, with Stage A showing both obverse and reverse in Early Die State. Stages B and C remain unconfirmed at Mid and Late Die State, indicating that specimens with progressive die wear have not yet been documented for this variety. The 1963 Roosevelt Silver Dime was struck in the 90% silver, 10% copper composition that was standard for dimes from 1946 through 1964 — the final two years of silver dime production before the Coinage Act of 1965 mandated the transition to copper-nickel clad coinage. The Philadelphia Mint produced over 123 million business strike dimes in 1963, along with proof issues included in the year's proof sets. Five cataloged doubled die obverses for this date reflects a moderate but meaningful variety population, and the strong spread descriptor for DDO-005 places it among the more visually impressive examples in the sequence. Collectors of Roosevelt Silver Dime varieties particularly value strong spread varieties because the small diameter of the dime makes subtle doubling especially challenging to detect.

Die Markers

• UVC-400
• DMR-007
• Stage A:
• Obverse and Reverse are EDS
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by James Wiles
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References