1998 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-031

Description

Doubling on this 1998 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Memorial Cent manifests specifically on the lower left side of the seventh column to the right of the statue's left leg and foot — a remarkably precise location within Frank Gasparro's detailed Memorial reverse. The architectural detail of the Lincoln Memorial, with its twelve visible columns between the outer facades and the small Lincoln statue seated within, provides numerous areas where subtle hub doubling can be detected by careful examination. Attributed by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID 1998 1c WDDR-031 with no other known cross-references, the thirty-first DDR for this date reflects the enormous volume of 1998 cent production and the corresponding number of die pairs employed. Obverse die markers include a die gouge above the 8 of the date, while reverse markers consist of a die gouge just to the right of the N in CENT and a die scratch running along the right side of the memorial base from the T of CENT. These multiple die markers across both sides provide strong attribution confidence. The Lincoln Memorial reverse was entering its fourth decade by 1998, and the design's intricate columnar details made it especially fertile ground for doubled die discovery — microscopic shifts that would be invisible on simpler designs become detectable against the fine parallel lines of the Memorial's colonnade.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Jim Fines Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1998 1¢ WDDR-031
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References