Top third party graders (PCGS, NGC, ANACS) holder six distinct double die wheat cents, some of which you can still find in pocket change and rolls and some you likely will have to purchase because of their scarcity.
The dates are: 1909 VDB Doubled Die Obverse, 1917 DDO, 1936 DDO, 1941 DDO, 1955 DDO, and 1958 DDO. Photos below are taken from PCGS CoinFacts. Please consult this important directory for retail and auction values.
1909 VDB DDO
Look for doubling in the “R,” “T” and “Y” of “Liberty” as well as the “1” and first “9” of the date.
PCGS estimates that some 500+ 1909 V.D.B. Doubled Dies exist in all grades.
1917 DDO
Look for the doubling in the word “Trust” (especially the “R”) and also on the number “9” of the date.
Estimates are a few hundred 1917 DDO cents went into circulation. You can still find these in rolls. (Michael Bugeja actually did.)
1936 DDO
Look for doubling in “We” and the “S” and “T” in “Trust” as well as the “6” in the date.
There are three types of double die obverses for this coin. To identify them, read this Proxiblog article. Hundreds of these are still in circulation so you can still find these in pocket change and bank rolls.
1941 DDO
Look for doubling in the word “Liberty” as well as the “R” in “Trust” and “4” of the date.
There are thousands of these undiscovered yet that you can find in pocket change and bank rolls.
1955 DDO
The 1955 DDO is one of the most pronounced hub doubling of any U.S. coin, caused when the Mint struck a hub and working die mistakenly, causing doubling throughout the obverse, easily seen with the naked eye.
Some 20,000 of these double dies were mixed with the total mintage of 33,058,000. But the doubling was so dramatic that thousands of these were found in the 1950s and hobbyists have been searching for them ever since. However, because of the substantial number of double dies, it is still theoretically possible to find one in pocket change and bank rolls. But the odds are not with you. If you are collecting a set of wheat cent double dies, you probably will have to save and purchase one from PCGS, NGC or ANACS.
Be careful before you buy, too, as the 1955 DDO is one of the most counterfeited coins. Replicas are inexpensive and plentiful, too, as in this example from Etsy:
1958 DDO
Doubling on this ultra rarity is almost as obvious as the 1955 DDO with significant doubling on “Liberty” and “In God We Trust.”
Only three examples are known to exist, and the prices are astronomical, in the hundreds of thousands if and when any of these come up for auction. So you won’t find this in pocket change and just about anywhere else other than a main auction house like GreatCollections, which listed one in 2023, and it sold for $1,136,250.
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