1987P-1DEO-003T Trail Die Obverse

Description

A dual-variety coin carrying both trail die and minor doubled die characteristics, 1987P-1DEO-003T on the 1987 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent is one of the most diagnostically complex entries in the entire 1987 trail die census. The trail die component produces light trails from the letters LIBERT at a 0-degree offset — due north, meaning the hub shifted directly upward relative to the die face during the secondary impression, projecting ghost images from the affected lettering toward the rim. Simultaneously, this die exhibits a minor class II doubled die with light extra thickness on the date and TRUST, and the R in TRUST shows a notched right leg — a hallmark of hub doubling where the secondary impression creates a stepped profile on letter terminals. The co-occurrence of trail die effects and doubled die characteristics on a single working die documents two separate anomalies in the die's manufacturing history: the doubling from a hub-shift during one hubbing impression and the trail formation from lateral die movement during another. Stage B at mid-die state is confirmed, with the reverse carrying a die gouge to the left of the Memorial base. The presence of two mechanistically distinct error types on one die makes this variety a valuable reference specimen for understanding the difference between trail-induced distortion and hub-doubling-induced distortion. Struck at Philadelphia (no mint mark) on copper-plated zinc planchets (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) at 2.5 grams and 19mm, from the 1987 mintage of 4,682,466,931 cents.

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