1966 Doubled Die Obverse DDO-021

Description

Twenty-first doubled die obverse documented for the 1966 Kennedy Half Dollar, this variety exhibits a medium spread on the profile, ear, and designer's initials — the "FG" monogram of Frank Gasparro, who created the reverse design, or the Gilroy Roberts initials on the obverse truncation. The 1966 Kennedy Half falls within the silver-clad composition era (1965-1970), when these coins were struck on planchets containing 40% silver in a copper-silver clad sandwich, a composition adopted after the Coinage Act of 1965 addressed the national silver shortage. VarietyVista assigns this variety UVC-095 and DMR-023, tracking three die stages: Stage A at Early Die State remains unconfirmed, Stage B at Mid Die State displays strong die scratches running north-south in front of the profile along with a strong die scratch running southeast from chin to neck with the reverse also showing MDS characteristics, and Stage C captures both the obverse and reverse in Late Die State deterioration. The comments field notes "BS" — a VarietyVista internal notation. Kennedy Half Dollar doubled dies from the 1965-1970 silver-clad era command particular collector interest because the composition adds intrinsic metal value to the numismatic variety premium, and the 1966 date saw no proof production (Special Mint Sets were issued instead), making business strike doubled dies the primary target for variety collectors. Twenty-one DDO varieties for a single date demonstrates the productive output of die variety research on this popular mid-century denomination.

Die Markers

• UVC-095
• DMR-023
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Strong die scratches North-South in front of profile – MDS
• Strong die scratch Southeast from chin to neck
• Reverse is MDS
• Stage C:
• Obverse and Reverse are LDS

Attribution History

• Discovered by Ken Potter
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References