Officially known as 1935 Doubled Die Obverse (DDO) FS-101 variety, this coin has significant doubling, especially on the date, and is sought after by collectors.
You also can see doubling on the letters of “IN GOD WE TRUST” as well as the left portion of the motto LIBERTY.
If you look closely, you can see a doubled eyelid on the portrait.
This is the type of doubling that can be strong, if early in the manufacturing process, or weaker as the working die deteriorates.
Also, in those late-stage examples, the doubling can look flat. So many people attribute those to machine doubling. Example:
As for value, PCGS CoinFacts factors the color of the coin (Brown, Red-Brown, or Red) and its grade.
Well-circulated examples can be found on eBay for under $50. High grade red examples authenticated by PCGS sell for hundreds and even thousands.
This coin sold at auction for $3055.
If buying a raw example from eBay or online auctions, be sure to distinguish doubled die from die deterioration, as in this case:
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With the 2026 Semiquincentennial President Donald J. Trump $1 Coin, people are having a renewed interest in presidential dollars. Trump was not part of the series. Launched in 2007, the series requires a president to have been deceased for at least two years to appear on a coin. Trump got around this requirement as his is a commemorative coin.
A hallmark of the presidential series is edge lettering.
Depending on the year the coin was minted, these elements appear on the edge: year of minting, mintmark and “E Pluribus Unum.”
In 2007 and 2008, presidential dollars also included “In God We Trust.”
That brings us to one of the major varieties.
Godless Dollar
“In God We Trust” was moved to the obverse of these dollars in 2009 after a backlash occurred when edge letting was missing on the 2007 George Washington dollar. People started calling this variety “Godless dollars.”
The error happened when the machine that strikes the edge lettering somehow malfunctioned, leaving the edge blank. That started the furor over US coins lacking any mention of a supreme being.
Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)responded to the backlash by introducing an amendment to a federal appropriations bill. The amendment was part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, ordering the U.S. Mint to move “In God We Trust” to either the obverse or reverse of all future Presidential dollars. The law took effect in 2009.
An average uncirculated 2007–2008 Godless Dollar is typically worth $40 to $100, while heavily circulated examples sell for around $15 to $30.
Faceless Dollar
Also in 2007-2008 some coins on blank planchets escaped the Mint. These had edge lettering but no obverse of reverse designs.
This occurred because these dollars had a two-step minting process. Blanks were fed into the coining press to stamp the obverse and reverse designs. The second step involved edge lettering.
The “lettered blank” error, popularly known as the “Faceless Dollar,” happened when blank planchets accidentally bypassed the main coining press, going directly to the edge machine.
The value of Faceless dollars typically ranges between $40 and $500, depending on authentication and condition.
Overlapped/Inverted Dollars
One final variety happened in 2007 involving the John Adams dollar. These coins were fed into the edge coining machine twice. This resulted in two varieties. Overlapped errors feature doubled edge lettering running in the same direction and inverted errors running in opposite directions and upside down.
These varieties typically retail between $50 to $300, depending on condition.
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According to AI, there is good and bad news about finding the third 1982-D Small Date bronze cent–perhaps the most sought after coin due to social media hype about its lottery-prize-like value.
As you read this, remember that AI is not an expert numismatist. Maybe those folks would have used different metrics. But I am an AI authority as one of the top technology professors with 48 years at top research institutions. So I expect those fellow hobbyists will be commenting and demurring and otherwise questioning these results.
Let’s have some fun.
Only two of these transitional varieties have been found since it was theorized that a copper planchet with a small date might have left the Denver Mint. Here they are, authenticated.
Some more facts: There are seven common varieties of 1982 cents: The copper ones should weigh 3.1 grams; the zinc ones, 2.5 grams. The copper ones are Large Date, Philadelphia; Small Date, Philadelphia; and Large Date, Denver. The zinc ones are Philadelphia, Large Date; Philadelphia, Small Date; Denver, Large Date; and Denver, Small Date.
The coveted transitional variety weighing 3.1 grams has these markers:
AI factored these odds: a hobbyist looking for the third example every day in a dollar’s worth of Lincoln cent pocket change over 40 years as roughly 1 in 300,000,000, or a probability of 0.0000000033.
Let’s illustrate those odds. Imagine one 1982-D Small Date 3.1 grams is mixed into 300,000,000 total cents. Let’s stack those coins one atop the other. They would reach 283 miles high, surpassing the International Space Station. Blindfolded, you pick exactly one coin from that stack anywhere up the cosmic ladder.
What? You don’t like that analogy?
How about this: You are 20,000 times more likely to be hit by lighting than finding the third example.
Here’s the AI screenshot:
But there is good news, too. AI factors that odds of another example (as many as 15-50 might exist!) being circulated in pocket change are nearly 100% probability!
Here’s the screenshot:
It was gratifying to know that AI cited Proxiblog about coins coming from two working dies. You can read that article by clicking here.
AI also included these factors:
The discovery coin was found in 2016.
The second was found in 2019.
This yields an empirical discovery rate of roughly 0.05 coins per year since the hunt began. This low yield confirms that while more coins exist, the vast majority of the 6.01 billion Denver cents have either been melted down, lost in landfills, or remain sitting unexamined in hoarders’ casual coin jars.
Summary of Your Search Odds
Metric
Statistical Value
Odds a 3rd coin exists
~100% (Virtually guaranteed)
Estimated total supply remaining
15 to 50 coins
Odds per individual unsearched 1982-D cent
1 in 300,000,000
Before you start celebrating and searching your grandparents’ coin jars, don’t count on winning the numismatic lottery. You would have better odds winning the Powerball jackpot (again hypothetically) if you bought a ticket every day for 40 years,
AI puts those odds as 1 in 20,000.
Remember the odds of the third 1982-D Small Date bronze coin? That’s 1 in 300,000,000!
Here is its breakdown of the math:
Single Ticket Odds: The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot with a single $2 ticket are 1 in 292,201,338.
Total Tickets Bought: Buying one ticket every day for 40 years (including leap years) equals 14,610 tickets.
Cumulative Probability: Each ticket is an independent event. Your cumulative chance of hitting the jackpot at least once over those 14,610 tries is roughly \(0.005\%\) (or about 1 in 20,000).
Have you made the correlation yet?
Go to the corner gas station. Buy a Powerball ticket. Your odds of winning the lottery jackpot with that single ticket is roughly the same as finding the third 1982-D Small Date bronze cent after 40 years of searching for the unicorn!
If you are intent on searching for those theorized 15-50 examples of the 1982-D Small Date bronze cent, keep doing it. Miracles happen.
Your own existence is 1 in 300,000,000!
AI states: “Yes, events with odds of 1 in 300,000,000 happen around us all the time. When dealing with massive populations or billions of trials, things that are nearly impossible for an individual become statistical guarantees on a larger scale.”
Let’s start with your own existence.
AI states, “Every person alive is the result of a 1-in-300-million event. During human conception, a typical fertile ejaculation releases between 100 million and 300 million sperm cells. The fact that one highly specific sperm successfully fertilized a specific egg to create your exact DNA blueprint means that your existence is equal to finding the third 1982-D Small Date bronze cent!”
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The 1946-S/D variety is highly collectible because it is the only S-over-D overmintmark in the entire Lincoln Cent series.
You will need magnification to see this variety. A loupe should do it, but you can also use a coin microscope. Here’s how it looks without magnification:
In 1946, mintmarks were hand-punched into coin dies. A mint employee punched a “D” into a working die and then realized that it should have been an “S”–a perfect example of how these errors happen. He did his best to correct human error.
To identify the 1946-S/D variety, use that magnification. Look for the curve of the “S” underneath the “D” in the upper inside loop of the “S.”
Study the crossbar of the “D” appearing through the center cavity of the “S.”
The value of a 1946-S/D cent depends on condition, eye appeal and appearance. There are three designations for cents: Brown, Red-Brown, or Red.
Color Designation
Percentage of Original Mint-Red Color
Description
Red (RD)
95% or more
Retains almost all of its original brilliant mint bloom, allowing for only very slight mellowing.
Red-Brown (RB)
Between 5% and 95%
A mix of original red luster and brown toning from air exposure.
Brown (BN)
Less than 5%
The original red color has completely or nearly completely turned into a brown patina.
As for value, from Fine to Very Fine, you are looking at a retail value of $20 to $25. In mint state red, the coin will sell for hundreds if holdered by PCGS or NGC. There have been examples in s MS66 Red for thousands of dollars.
If you are interested in varieties, be sure to check out Proxiblog’s directory, which includes articles, illustrations and markers for popular coins.
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One of the most counterfeited coins is the key date 1877 Indian Cent. It has a low mintage of 852,500. Genuine examples cost hundreds and thousands of dollars. A Good-4 example retails for $650. Extra fine ones go for $3,000 and MS63 Brown, $7,000.
Those values alone make it necessary to know markers so you do not end up with a fake, altered or replica coin.
On all genuine circulation strikes, a single reverse working die was used. So these markers are vital and uniform.
The “N” in ONE slowly grows weaker and shallow as it proceeds to the bottom right corner.
The top left corner of the “N” in CENT also is weakly struck and shallow when you compare it to other letters.
If these “N”s are sharply struck on the reverse, you’re looking at a counterfeit coin.
There are also obverse markers, beginning with the so-called “Slanted 77” in the date. Draw an imaginary horizontal line across the date, and the second “7” should be slightly lower than the first.
If the “7”s are parallel and equal in orientation, you have a fake coin.
You also should check the second “7” for evidence of tooling, changing the last digit of the less valuable 1871, 1874 or 1879 so it appears like a “7.”
You can also do the balance test to see if your coin is a counterfeit. Genuine Indian Head cents have beleved edges and as such cannot stand balanced on its edge. Chinese fakes have flat squared edges. You can balance these.
Also many examples of contemporary counterfeits have a mushy or weakly struck “United States of America.” On genuine coins, this should be legible and crisp. In the image below, the left example is the counterfeit.
Keep in mind that Etsy and Temu sell replicas. Example:
These replicas have many of the same markers as authentic coins and often appear on eBay as authentic.
As a rule, be especially wary of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on raw 1877 cents if you do not know the markers or have doubts about them. Best to wait for your treasured key date graded by a top holdering company and sold on a legitimate site or shop.
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Fake and replica 1893-S Morgan dollars abound as only 100,000 were minted with current values in multiples of thousands of dollars. This is a summary of markers so that you can identify this coveted key date.
The basic test of any Morgan dollar is its weight: 26.73 grams and diameter of 38.1 millimeters. Any deviation is a fake.
The 1893-S was produced using a single obverse die and two reverse dies. In other words, any deviation of markers also signifies a counterfeit.
View the date. The “1” is squarely atop the fourth denticle (my illustration).
Another marker, difficult to see on worn dollars, is a faint line through the “T” in “Liberty.”
Because the reverse had two dies, they are numbered VAM-1 and VAM-2 according to the directory by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis (hence, VAM after their names). The key marker is the mintmark. VAM-1 has a centered “S” and VAM-2 an “S” tilted slightly to the right.
Be careful if purchasing a 1893-S Morgan dollar. Run the above tests. Again, any deviation from the markers is a red flag for a counterfeit. China also exports counterfeits in fake PCGS holders. To learn more about that, see Jack D. Young’s “Counterfeit PCGS Morgan.”
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To celebrate the nation’s Semiquincentennial–250 years–the US Mint produced 250,000 Declaration of Independence Quarters featuring a special “July 4th” privy mark. These quarters were sent with regular business strikes to banks and now has become a desirable variety, typically selling raw for $100 and several hundreds more if slabbed in high mint state.
In introducing the coin, Mint Director Paul Hollis said, “We hope Americans enjoy the search for these iconic quarters as they’re meant to be shared, saved, and remembered as part of this historic anniversary.”
No Washington Quarter has such a low mintage. The key dates 1932-D had a mintage of 436,800 and 1932-S, 408,000.
Let’s show where you can find the privy mark and display it next to a regular issue.
As you can see, the obverse side displays a profile of Thomas Jefferson and the reverse features the Liberty Bell. The privy mark reads “July 4th. Unlike other business strikes, these rare quarters bear no mint mark, making the privy mark the primary indicator of its rarity.
You can find raw and holdered examples on eBay and other online venues.
If you know how to grade and have an exceptional high mint state example, like this one below, then consider holdering it.
Among the highest graded examples have been MS67, as above. Gem Grades (MS65 to MS66+) have been found in rolls and also go for hundreds of dollars.
As you can imagine, counterfeits, replicas and altered coins are making the rounds. The Better Business Bureau has put out an alert about this.
Scammers have done the following:
Altered Mint Marks: Criminals use standard 2026 Philadelphia or Denver quarters, grind off the “P” or “D” mint mark, and engrave or stamp a fake “July 4” text onto the field.
Misplaced Privy Designs: Some fakes feature poorly defined text or put the mark in the wrong spot.
Forgotten Mintmark: Scammers put a fake July 4th privy mark but forget to shave off the mintmark.
The best place to find these rare privy marked quarters, apart from pocket change, is securing or buying bank rolls … and hoping you’ll get lucky.
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USA Today published a comprehensive article on the hype about the 1982-D Small Date bronze cent variety, noting its rarity–only two found–and odds of finding the third, along with eBay sellers out to scam others by selling ordinary cents from that year. (In 1982, the US Mint made 16,729,361,847 cents in Denver and Philadelphia.)
Proxiblog and its founder, Michael Bugeja, figure prominently in the 8/17/26 USA Today piece.
“I’m happy to see the widespread distribution of this article by Mike Snider,” Bugeja said. USA Today has an estimated weekday print circulation of roughly 89,200 to 103,600 copies, alongside over 2 million digital subscribers, making it one of the most widely read daily newspapers in the United States. “Perhaps this will enlighten all those new collectors believing they will find the rarity in pocket change.
“There are better ways to spend hobby time.”
Excerpts:
The USA Today article quotes Bugeja and Proxiblog extensively along with these other experts: John Brush, president of rare coin trading and auctioning company DLRC; Donn Pearlman, a spokesman for the Professional Numismatists Guild; and Mary Sauvain, executive director of the Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation.
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Every 1922 cent should carry the “D” mintmark from Denver, which was the only facility to produce cents in 1922. But accidents happen, and a mint employee over polished a working die, erasing the “D.”
The Denver Mint struck a total of 7,160,000 Lincoln cents that year. Due to a shortage of coin dies, Denver workers polished and reused damaged, clogged dies. That is how the mistake happened.
Coin collectors know that the Philadelphia Mint typically does not use a mintmark for coinage. So the missing mintmark has the appearance of being struck at Philly.
Only about 15,000 examples exist of the missing mintmark cent, a key date for collectors and a rarity, worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars, depending on the die pairs.
That’s why identifying the rarity is important. We’ll explore that here.
The 1922 Cent is categorized as follows:
Standard 1922-D (Normal mint mark)
1922 “Weak D” (Faint, blurry, or partially filled mint mark)
1922 “No D” / Plain (Mint mark completely missing)
In addition, value is assessed by die pairs:
Die Pair #1 (Weak D / No D – Weak Reverse). Mushy or missing lines on wheat stalks. Die Pair #2 (“No D” Strong Reverse). Clear lines on wheat stalks. Die Pair #3 (Weak D / No D – Weak Reverse). The final “2” in the date is notably weaker than the first “2”. Die Pair #4 (Weak D / No D – Weak Reverse): Very similar to pair 3 but typically even mushier.
Scammers find it easy to erase the “D” on a well-defined 1922-D normal mintmark coin. They do so by tooling or filling the area where the mintmark should be. Here’s a suspicioius example:
This is one occasion to use a coin microscope. Any deviation on the surface is suspect.
Also keep in mind that China mass produces replicas that dishonest sellers offer as authentic. Example:
As always, if you cannot distinguish die pairs, or are unsure, do not bid on or buy any unholdered coin.
As you might anticipate, die pair #2 values are expensive.
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These newly attributed doubled dies are not universally recognized yet by major holdering companies, meaning you typically will have to ask for attribution and pay extra for that, if you believe you have found and want to slab them. Also, you probably will need a loupe or microscope to see them. But they have been listed on Wexler’s and Variety Vista sites. You can explore the markers for both coins there.
Normally, Proxiblog does not acknowledge these minor errors. Since the Mint uses a single-squeeze hubbing process, meant to eliminate doubled dies, they still can occur when working dies are not properly aligned or when a defect in the die is not immediately recognized.
But these two doubled dies are being found and sold regularly on eBay and other venues. So we will explore them here.
2024 DDO CENT
Both the 2024 and 2024-D have ghost images of a double ear. The 2024 is the most prominent:
You will want to view the date with a loupe or microscope and pay close attention to the second “2” and “4” with less visible doubling on the first “2” and “4”:
You also will find doubling the first four letters of “Trust”:
Again, you can see other minor markers of this variety on Wexler’s and Variety Vista.
2024-D DDO CENT
If you use a coin microscope, you should be able to see doubling on the date, although the led lights can magnify the spread, as in the example below:
There is also a faint ghost image of a doubled ear.
The other markers also are faint. Check Wexler’s or Variety Vista for those.
“Sold” values for the 2024 and 2024-D DDO on eBay generally sell for $10 to $30 in circulated or uncertified uncirculated condition. If the double ear is prominent on a high-grade 2024-D DDR, sellers are getting between $35 and $50.
Do not buy or bid on any of these new doubled dies unless you clearly see the main markers. Many being offered lack them, using high grade 2024 and 2024-D Cents and erroneously stating they are doubled dies.
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