1971-S WHO WHO-002

Description

Cataloged as WHO-002 for the 1971-S Proof Silver Eisenhower dollar, this doubled working hub obverse variety documents an early hub doubling event in the inaugural year of Frank Gasparro's Eisenhower dollar design. The Eisenhower dollar debuted in 1971 as the first circulating dollar coin since the Peace dollar series ended in 1935, honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower on the obverse and featuring the Apollo 11 mission insignia — an eagle landing on the moon with Earth in the background — on the reverse. San Francisco struck collector-oriented proof versions in 40% silver-clad composition, and the careful die preparation required for proof coinage occasionally resulted in hub doubling events that produced sharper, more clearly defined doubled images than their business strike counterparts. VarietyVista documented this variety with the cross-reference CONECA: 1-O-I, indicating the Combined Organizations of Numismatic Error Collectors of America assigned it their first obverse hub doubling classification for the date. Working hub doubling occurs when the master die transfers its design to the working hub with a slight misalignment, and every working die produced from that hub inherits the doubling — making WHO varieties potentially more prevalent than individual doubled die events because multiple dies can carry the same diagnostic. The proof silver Eisenhower dollar saw limited mintages compared to the Philadelphia and Denver business strikes, with San Francisco producing approximately 6.87 million proof specimens in 1971. Collectors examining this variety should look for doubled elements on the obverse design that are consistent across multiple specimens, as the working hub origin means the doubling should replicate identically on all coins struck from dies produced by the affected hub.

Attribution History

• CONECA: 1-O-I
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References