2005 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-078

Description

Attributed by Richard Ray and cataloged as Wexler Variety ID 2005 P WDDR-078 Business Strike Ocean in View, this doubled die reverse was discovered on the 2005 Philadelphia Jefferson Nickel featuring the "Ocean in View" reverse design from the Westward Journey series. The high catalog number (WDDR-078) reflects the extraordinary proliferation of doubled die reverse varieties documented on the 2005 Westward Journey nickels, which produced more doubled die varieties than virtually any other single design in the modern nickel series. The "Ocean in View" reverse, designed by Joe Fitzgerald, depicts the view from the Pacific coast that greeted the Lewis and Clark expedition, with the inscribed text "Ocean in view! O! The Joy!" adapted from William Clark's journal entry of November 7, 1805. The 2005 Westward Journey nickels were part of a two-year commemorative program celebrating the Lewis and Clark expedition's bicentennial, with four unique reverse designs issued across 2004-2005. This business strike issue was produced at the Philadelphia Mint in standard copper-nickel composition (75% copper, 25% nickel, 5.000 grams, 21.2 mm diameter). The "Ocean in View" design's combination of landscape imagery, waves, and handwriting-style text provided numerous diagnostic surfaces where hub misalignment could produce detectable doubling, contributing to the remarkably large population of documented DDR varieties for this issue. Collectors should examine the text elements and coastline details under 7x to 10x magnification for evidence of the hub displacement.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Richard Ray
• Unknown; Wexler Variety ID: 2005 P WDDR-078 Business Strike Ocean in View
• Expert attribution by Richard Ray

External References