1964-D Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-014

Description

The fourteenth doubled die obverse variety documented for the 1964-D Lincoln Memorial Cent in the Wexler attribution system, WDDO-014 was struck at the Denver Mint during the year that produced more Lincoln cents from a single facility than any previous year in the denomination's history. The 3,799,071,500-coin output was the culmination of an escalating production effort that had been building since the early 1960s as the coin shortage intensified, and it represented the practical maximum of the Denver Mint's capacity under wartime-style extended operations. Every one of the thousands of obverse dies consumed during this production was manufactured through the multi-impression hubbing process, a technique that transferred the design from a working hub to a die blank through repeated applications of hydraulic force. When the hub shifted between impressions — even by a few thousandths of an inch — the resulting doubled image was permanently fixed in the die steel, creating the characteristic that variety collectors classify as a genuine doubled die. WDDO-014 documents one such die from the Denver production line. The coin circulated as an ordinary cent, carrying Brenner's Lincoln portrait and Gasparro's Memorial reverse on a 95% copper and 5% tin-zinc planchet, indistinguishable to the naked eye from the billions of undoubled 1964-D cents in commerce. Only under magnification does the secondary hub image become apparent, revealing the manufacturing anomaly that has earned this coin its place in the Wexler catalog. The 1964-D was the last D-mint Lincoln cent before the 1965-67 mint mark removal. Struck at 19mm diameter and 3.11 grams.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Wexler Team

External References