1988P-1DER-008T Trail Die Reverse

Description

Attributed to Aisha Shahid, the 1988P-1DER-008T represents a Tilted trail die reverse on the 1988 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent, documented at Stage C — a later stage designation that often reflects continued die deterioration alongside the original hubbing anomaly. The obverse at late die state shows die scratches throughout the entire surface, a pervasive pattern of wear visible in marker photographs that signals a die nearing the end of its useful life. Such comprehensive obverse scratching typically results from repeated die polishing to remove clash marks or flow lines, gradually degrading fine design details with each maintenance cycle. The reverse at mid-die state displays a more selective pattern: a small group of heavier scratches under the ED of UNITED and light north-south die scratches to the left of the Memorial building. The Tilted classification indicates the hub was slightly canted during impression, offsetting trail line elements at an angle from their proper positions on the reverse design. Trail die research has shown that Philadelphia's high-volume production environment in the late 1980s — with hundreds of millions of cents struck annually — created conditions where slight hubbing variations could go undetected during quality control, producing varieties like the 1DER-008T that survive in circulation. Struck on copper-plated zinc planchets at 2.5 grams and 19mm.

Die Markers

• Stage “C”, Obverse is LDS – Die scratches throughout the entire obverse. See marker photos for specific locations of these scratches.
• Reverse is MDS – A small group of heavier scratches under the ED of UNITED.  Light N-S die scratches to the left of the memorial.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Aisha Shahid
• Expert attribution by Trail Dies

External References