1970-S Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-039

Description

A proof issue from the San Francisco Mint's Large Date hub, WDDO-039 on the 1970-S Lincoln Memorial cent displays counterclockwise spread on IN GOD WE TRUST, LIBERTY, and the date. Counterclockwise hub doubling — where the secondary hub impression is rotated slightly counterclockwise relative to the primary — produces a distinctive directional pattern: on the left side of the obverse, affected letters shift slightly upward, while on the right they shift downward, with displacement increasing with distance from the rotational axis. On LIBERTY, this manifests as progressively stronger doubling from the central letters outward, while on the date the leftmost digits may show different doubling characteristics than the rightmost. No significant die markers beyond the doubling characteristics have been documented, meaning attribution relies primarily on the doubling pattern itself. As a proof coin, WDDO-039 was manufactured under conditions that typically preserve die characteristics with exceptional clarity: polished die surfaces and multiple-strike proof production render hub doubling more sharply defined than on business strikes, where single-blow production and unpolished surfaces can obscure subtle doubling. The Large Date proof context places this variety within standard proof cent production, as the Large Date hub was used for the majority of 1970-S proof output.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John A. Wexler Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1970-S 1¢ Pr WDDO-039
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References