2018 Doubled Die Obverse WDDO-003

Description

Third in the Wexler obverse doubled die census for the 2018 Lincoln Shield cent, WDDO-003 presents moderate extra thickness on LIBERTY alongside a pair of progressive die failures documented on both coin faces. The obverse carries a die crack running north-south through the hair at the back of Lincoln's head, while the reverse shows a die crack on the top left of the Union shield — parallel deterioration events on both dies of this marriage that provide diagnostic markers independent of the doubling itself. These die cracks indicate the die pair had accumulated significant service when specimens were examined, placing documented examples in a more advanced die state where the cracks developed after initial production began. Lyndall Bass's Shield cent obverse, evolving from Victor David Brenner's 1909 Lincoln portrait, positions LIBERTY along the left rim where the moderate extra thickness creates visibly heavier letterforms than normally struck specimens display. The Wexler Variety ID 2018 1¢ WDDO-003 catalogs this variety, with no additional cross-references from other attribution services currently known. Philadelphia produced approximately 3.57 billion cents in 2018, an enormous output that generated the die consumption necessary for multiple doubled die events to enter production. The combination of genuine hub doubling (the moderate extra thickness on LIBERTY) with progressive die failures (cracks on both obverse and reverse) creates a specimen that documents two distinct categories of die anomaly on a single coin — the hub doubling established at the time of die manufacture, and the die cracks developing during the die's production life. Collectors should use the die cracks as initial screening markers: the N/S crack through the back-of-head hair on the obverse and the top-left shield crack on the reverse confirm the correct die pair, after which detailed examination of LIBERTY under 12-15x magnification can verify the moderate extra thickness that constitutes the hub doubling diagnosis.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Khasil Chomny Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 2018 1¢ WDDO-003
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References