1955 doubled die penny

How to read it

PCGS CoinFacts explains the doubling: a working die took two impressions from the hub that were slightly rotated from each other, and that die then struck thousands of doubled cents. NGC says the doubling is very wide, on all the lettering of the obverse, and the same on every genuine example; the ANA’s Reading Room calls it the “King of Doubled Dies”. According to PCGS, the Mint caught some of the coins but judged it not worth melting millions of cents to recover about 20,000 doubled ones, and many reached the public in cigarette packs from vending machines, which gave two cents’ change inside the cellophane. PCGS puts the survivors at perhaps 10,000 to 15,000.

Also searched as: 1955 doubled die obverse, 1955 double die penny.

Altered coins and replicas

NGC describes an altered 1955 cent made by stamping a doubled-looking date and mint mark over the originals, and the ANA reports a modern replica given artificial wear. Both graders point to a marker on the only reverse die used with the doubled obverse, near the T of CENT, but describe it differently: PCGS as vertical die polishing lines to the left of the T, NGC as two thin horizontal lines from the left of the T’s crossbar.

What the NGC Price Guide listed

NGC’s column of November 2022 gave NGC Price Guide values from $1,150 for a brown coin in Good to $8,500 in MS 65 brown, $2,900 (MS 60) to $18,500 (MS 66) red-brown, and $4,400 (MS 62) to $65,000 (MS 66) red. NGC had graded more than 3,900, with a median grade of AU 58. The NGC guide gives average dealer retail prices for NGC-certified coins, and its figures change; these are the prices NGC published on that date.

Look-alikes

Nearly a billion ordinary 1955 cents were struck, NGC says. Only the doubled die coins show the doubling.