2002 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-007

Description

Attributed by the Wexler Team as 2002 1¢ WDDR-007, this doubled die reverse variety appears on a 2002 Lincoln Memorial cent struck at the Philadelphia Mint in the copper-plated zinc composition, weighing 2.5 grams with a 19 mm diameter and a plain edge. The doubling on WDDR-007 is positioned on the lower left side of the seventh Memorial column to the right of the statue's legs, with additional doubling visible between the statue's lower legs. The seventh column of Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse is the column directly adjacent to the seated Lincoln statue, making it the area of highest design complexity on the reverse and consequently the zone where hub displacement is most easily detected. Further doubling between the legs of the statue adds a second diagnostic point that helps confirm the variety is genuine hub doubling rather than die deterioration doubling or machine doubling. Obverse die markers for this variety are quite distinctive: a small die gouge above and between the T and Y in LIBERTY, and a small die gouge resembling a dot inside the upper portion of the second digit two in the date. The reverse carries die gouges in the lower half of the fifth Memorial bay, adding further confirmation markers. The description notes separate obverse characteristics but the die marker section appears to reference an incomplete continuation, suggesting this variety has particularly detailed marker documentation. No cross-references to other attribution services have been established for WDDR-007. The 2002 date saw Philadelphia and Denver together produce billions of cents, and the sheer volume of dies required for this production ensured that hubbing errors, while individually rare, appeared across a substantial number of working dies that year.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John A. Wexler Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 2002 1¢ WDDR-007
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References