Part II. Die Varieties:

Doubled Dies:

Class III (Design Hub Doubling)

Likely the easiest Doubled Die to explain yet the least common to have occurred. Class III Doubled Dies occur when after the first hubbing with one design another hubbing follows of a different design or a slightly altered design.

Below is an overlay diagram of a fictitious Class III Doubled Die that is similar to several Doubled Dies that occurred during 1960 when the Mint used two different Master Dies, the first bearing a small date, then another made later that year, bearing a larger date. You can see clear doubling in the date and then slight doubling in LIBERTY.

Doubling is sometimes the least dramatic characteristic observed, as in some cases with other denominations, such as on a Mercury Dime with a 1942 over a 194. Designated as 1942P DDO-001 (FS-10.7 [101] when, for whatever reason, a die after having been hubbed with a 1941 hub, was hubbed a second time with a hub having a 1942. There is some doubling in IGWT, but there is a very dramatic, naked eye obvious, overdate. It is important to note that all overdates after 1907 are Doubled Dies whereas previous overdates had dates punched into the die one on top
of the other.

Collectors of Lincoln cents should have an easy time understanding what would happen if a 1960 small date hub and a 1960 large date hub were both used to create a die. There are four cases of this happening, three on proofs and one business strike from Denver (which also has a nice RPM). Below is an approximation overlay of a small date over a large date with an example designated as 1960P DDO-002 (FS-102). The doubling is very obvious in the date, LIBERTY and parts of IGWT. At the bottom the small date is lavender while the large is green; the first shows a small over a large and the second shows a large over a small. They almost line up perfectly with DDO-002.

The 1960 Denver version is just as dramatic in the date but less so in LIBERTY. The small date almost looks as if it were placed on top of the large date. Listed as 1960D DDO-001 & RPM-100 and is illustrated below. John Wexler states (The Cherrypicker’s Guide to Rare Die Varieties, 4th edition, volume one, 2001) that in the “early days” any Doubled Die that “…did not fit the parameters of any of the other classes of doubling” were often erroneously designated as a Class III Doubled Die. Wexler also says that “[he] will not assign a Class III designation to a variety unless [he] has documented evidence that different designs were in use [that] year….”

Another curious set of examples comes from 1949 when, for reasons unknown, three dies were hubbed with a pointed topped 4 hub and then hubbed again with a blunt topped 4. They are listed as 1949S DDO-001, 002 &003 by CONECA. It has been hypothesized that the pointed hub is that from 1948 which was absent an 8 digit (or the 8 was removed). Below is DDO-002 and then an approximation overlay showing a pointed 4 (red) from 1948 undera blunt 4 (green) from 1949. They match up convincingly and suggest the likeliest, but not necessarily the only possible explanation. As a suggested reason for this (BJ Neff) proposed the possibility that the Mint was short on hubs and quickly altered an extra 1948. What isn’t answerable is why only three were hubbed once using this particular hub.

Next is an overdate Jefferson nickel, listed by CONECA as DDO-003 (3-O-II-C+III+V-CW) and in the CPG as FS-05-1943P-101 (28). Here we have a situation where a lighter hubbing of a ‘42 is partly concealed by a deeper hubbing of a ‘43. To clarify, below is a 1943 Jefferson overlaid with a 1942; the diagonal line matches part of the primary curve of the 2, while the little protruding point below the curve of the 3, matches the corner of the bottom of the 2.

Finally, a comparison illustration of the four known 1960 P & D Class III doubled dies.

On to CLASS IV

All doubled die illustrations are by Jason Cuvelier