What is a doubled die and how to tell them from worthless doubling

It can be very exciting to see a doubled die under a Loupe or a microscope. Did you know that there are different types of doubling as well? I am on a mission which is to help people understand the difference between a true doubled die and worthless doubling. This can be confusing for some but, honestly its really easy to understand.

Grab your favorite caffeinated drink, get comfortable and enjoy the educational attempt at us helping you comprehend the different types of doubling that exists.

In this article I will attempt to show you the difference between the doubled die and worthless doubling. First, I think I should give you a general idea of how a doubled die is created.

Let’s create a Doubled die !

What you can do is find yourself a pretty big coin. The bigger the better. One that is not expensive which you won’t mind mashing it into Play-Doh. Yes, Play-Doh.
Once you have a coin of any type you don’t mind using, I suggest getting some wax paper and tearing off a sheet big enough to accommodate the experiment area. This will make clean up a bit easier.
On the wax paper, roll out a section of Play-Doh bigger than the size of the coin. Have it at least twice as thick as the coin.
Place that coin on top of the play-Doh. Then, press down on the center of the coin, paying attention to sink the coin less than half way into the Play-Doh.
Now, the tricky part. You want to remove the coin, but not damage the impression made into the Play-Doh. It will be a trial and error. You may have to do re-roll the Play-Doh and insert the coin or medallion several times to find that sweet spot of being able to remove the coin from the Play-Doh without damaging the image impressed into it.
OK, so you have the coin out and the image looks good. Now, place that coin over the current image and try to align it up as best you can. Press down on the coin and sink it to about the same depth you did the last time.
Remove the coin from the Play-Doh and see what you have created. IF the images are off, you should see two impressions, and depending on your accuracy, the images will be either close to being on top of one another, or off.

Guess what – Its basically the same way the mint uses warmed steel working dies.

Prior to 1996, the mint workers would take a blank working die, put it into a high tonnage press with an image of the coin and press that image of the coin into the working die.
If they cannot tell if all the design elements are transferred to that working die, they have to remove it and inspect it. They would inspect and if they needed another impression, they would put that working die back into the high tonnage press and do another impression. Once the second impression was completed and the mint workers were satisfied with the results, they would move the working die to a box and continue to make other working dies.
Now if the mint workers were in a hurry or just simply acting human, they may have not properly lined up the working die for that second impression. That second impression could be off in the north, east, south or westerly direction. IF it is off far enough to be see with a loupe or microscope, a doubled die was born.
That working die, with more than one impression, now a doubled die, would be installed into a minting press. Let’s say that was the Obverse with the doubled die. They would also add a Reverse die, which may have been a normal working die with no doubled die into the press. The press and working dies are aligned and eventually the mining press starts making coins – doubled die coins.

A Doubled die, with more than one impession on a working die. — A Doubled die, with more than one impression on a working die.

For the image above, let us pretend we have an image pressed into a single working die. The first impression was in BLUE. and the second impression was done in BLACK. It’s very important to note that each one of those impressions were done with the same amount of pressure into the working die. That means, that when the working die makes the coin, each impression should be at the same height.

Now, let us look at some real DDO and DDR examples !

Let us look at a 1996 Doubled die obverse (or DDO) on the LIBERTY. The photo below shows a doubled die with one impression slightly north than the other impression. It may not be the bell ringer of a doubled die, but it is important to note that the doubled dies can be minor, subtle or simply bold. The impression slightly to the north – which is at the same height – is best seen on the top of the letters “L” and “I”. It is also present in the foot of the “L”.

For better clarity, any coin with suspected doubling should be examined at different 90 degree angles and adjust lighting if necessary. This photo was taken upside down. You can barely see one image over the other at the tops of the “L” and “I” along with the bottom of the “B” and at each leg of the “E”. These impressions were not off by much ! But it is still a doubled die.

A doubled die photo upside down for attribution.

The photo below the leg of the “L” shows a classic wider doubled die. The “E” shows doubling on all three of the legs as well. Notice how the impressions are nearly at the same height and NOT step-like nor smashed flat.

A photo of the doubling on RTY. — A photo of the doubling on ERTY.

Now lets look at some doubled dies on different types of coins. Note ! not every coin will look like these, each working die may be unique. As aoon as I can, I will add some doubled dies from a variety of coins… no pun intended.

There are several other websites that are educational in nature to help you identify the difference between a doubled die and worthless doubling. They are:

https://doubleddie.com especially https://doubleddie.com/144801.html

http://varietyvista.com . Varieties of modern day coinage.

https://coppercoins.com .Varieties, mainly of Lincoln Cents.