1970-S Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-003

Description

Third in the Wexler Team's catalog of 1970-S proof Kennedy half dollar DDR varieties, WDDR-003 documents yet another hub alignment anomaly from the final year of 40% silver-clad proof production at the San Francisco Mint. Cross-referenced as Wexler Variety ID 1970-S 50¢ Pr WDDR-003, this listing sits within a concentrated cluster of DDR discoveries for the 1970-S proof date that collectively demonstrate how productive the Kennedy reverse design has been for doubled die detection. No die markers were noted for either obverse or reverse, placing attribution responsibility squarely on the doubling pattern matching process. San Francisco produced 2,632,810 proof sets in 1970, and the Kennedy half dollar's position as the highest-denomination regular-issue coin in each set (Eisenhower dollars would not appear until 1971) gave it particular prominence among variety collectors. The 1970-S proof half dollar is notable within the Kennedy series because it is the final proof issue in the transitional 40% silver-clad composition that had been introduced in 1965 when Congress eliminated silver from most circulating coinage. Beginning in 1971, proof Kennedy halves would be struck in copper-nickel clad, making the 1965-1970 proof halves a self-contained subset distinguished by their silver content. The presence of three DDR varieties documented within the first three catalog positions for this date suggests that the proof die preparation process in 1970 was particularly susceptible to reverse hub misalignment, or that the strong collector interest in final-year silver proofs has led to more intensive searching of this date than some others in the series.

Attribution History

• Wexler Variety ID: 1970-S 50¢ Pr WDDR-003
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References