2006 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-009

Description

Cataloged by the Wexler Team as 2006 1¢ WDDO-009 with cross-reference Crawford CDDO-010, this Lincoln Memorial Cent exhibits light extra thickness on LIBERTY with notches visible on the lower left serifs of the letters ERTY, accompanied by additional extra thickness on the date, the lower hair and beard details of Lincoln's portrait, and the lapel fold above the bowtie. The multi-area distribution of the doubling — spanning the motto, date, portrait features, and clothing detail — indicates a hub displacement that affected a broad swath of the obverse die face rather than being confined to a single localized zone. Obverse die markers include a die chip on Lincoln's nose, a die crack running NNW from the eyebrow into the hair above the forehead, and a short die scratch running NW/SE below and between IN and GOD. The reverse carries a small die gouge on the right Memorial base, providing a reverse-side confirmation point for attributing the correct die pair. The cross-reference to the Crawford catalog as CDDO-010 confirms independent documentation of this variety across two separate reference systems. The Lincoln Memorial Cent was designed by Frank Gasparro for the reverse and Victor David Brenner for the obverse, struck at the Philadelphia Mint in copper-plated zinc (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) weighing 2.50 grams with a diameter of 19.05 mm. The die crack system running from the eyebrow into the hair documents early-stage structural failure in the portrait area of the obverse die, a high-stress zone where the deep relief required to produce Lincoln's facial and hair detail creates metal fatigue concentration points susceptible to cracking under the repeated compressive loads of high-speed coin production.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Gene Nichols Cross References: Crawford: CDDO-010
• Crawford: CDDO-010; Wexler Variety ID: 2006 1¢ WDDO-009
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References