1997 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-035

Description

Listed by the Wexler Team with no other known cross-references, WDDR-035 on the 1997 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent features an unusual doubled die manifestation: a bar extending from the middle of the leg to the middle of the base to the right of the statue on the seventh column of the Lincoln Memorial. Rather than the conventional thickening or spread on lettering, this doubling creates a visible structural anomaly within the architectural detail of Frank Gasparro's Memorial reverse — a raised bar connecting elements that should be separated. The reverse carries multiple die chips as secondary markers: a large die chip at the left cornice, two die chips to the east of the center of the T in CENT, and a die chip left of the center of the left upright of the U in UNITED. No significant obverse die markers have been noted. Die chips — small pieces of die steel that break away from fine features, leaving raised bumps on the struck coin — accumulate as a die ages, meaning specimens with all documented chips represent a specific production window in the die's life. The 1997 Philadelphia cent had a mintage of over 4.6 billion pieces, one of the highest annual cent production figures in history. Within that ocean of coins, WDDR-035 represents the output of a single reverse die, making it a needle-in-a-haystack variety for roll searchers and cherry-pickers.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Steve Young Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1997 1¢ WDDR-035
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References