1997-D Doubled Die Reverse DDR-001

Description

Medium westward spread creates a partial extra column number seven — traceable from the hand rail down to the foot level — on the Lincoln Memorial reverse of this 1997 Denver Mint cent. As DDR-001, this is the primary doubled die reverse for the 1997-D date, cataloged by VarietyVista with die markers UVC-2957 and DMR-002. Three die stages are tracked: Stage A shows both reverse and obverse in Early to Mid Die State (EMDS), while Stages B and C remain unconfirmed. The Denver Mint, established in 1906 from an earlier assay office built to process Colorado gold rush metal, has served as one of the two primary circulation-strike facilities throughout the modern era. Column seven on the Lincoln Memorial — the second pillar from the right — is one of the most common locations for doubled die effects on the Memorial reverse because its position away from the die center means it experiences greater displacement from rotational or offset hub movements. The 1997-D cent had a mintage of approximately 4.58 billion pieces, and the Denver facility consumed thousands of die pairs to achieve that output. Frank Gasparro designed the Memorial reverse in 1959, and for nearly fifty years his twelve-column facade provided die variety researchers with a built-in grid system for precisely locating and describing hub doubling — a diagnostic framework that few other coin designs have matched.

Die Markers

• UVC-2957
• DMR-002
• Stage A:
• Reverse and Obverse are EMDS
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by James Wiles
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References