Hi all, I believed I cherrypicked a 1909 VDB Lincoln DDO Cent (slabbed; unattributed). I believe it is the DDO-002 -- all the die markers check out, but for the life of me I cannot see any doubling on the date. There is clear doubling on LIBERTY, but the date seems to exhibit no doubling whatsoever. Pictures below -- I apologize for the blurriness as I used my iPod's macro setting.
Sorry about the blurry photos. These were taken 5 years ago without the aid of a macro. I'm not sure which DDO this is or what the die markers are for other DDO varieties of the 1909 VDB, but this particular DDO has fairly strong doubling in 190 of the date and RTY in LIBERTY. Not much doubling can be found anywhere else, at least while looking at my old photos.
This illustrates the point that the primary pick-up point should always be the doubled die itself. While the markers can be useful in establishing die stage, lots of 1909 dies ended up with die chips in LIBERTY and even clash marks.
I agree that the OP's coin is not the FS-1102 DDO#2. When I first started looking for this variety I would focus on the clashing and the filled in letters of LIBERTY. I ended up buying several coins that I thought were the DDO#2 but they weren't. Similarly, you can find examples of the DDO#2 that do not have the letters of LIBERTY filled in, though it's not common. That said, even the grading companies get this variety wrong sometimes and I've seen coins just like the coin in the OP that have been incorrectly attributed. You must have the doubling on the date for it to be the real deal.
You nailed it. ANACS called this one #2 about 15 years back. I'm lost on the clash diagnostics end of this.
I'm assuming you're referring to the clash above Lincoln's bowtie? The coin may have been struck before the die clash occurred. Now that you've posted a DDO-002, it's night and day between that and my coin. Thanks for posting! Beautiful blue toning on that one.
In addition to that obverse clash mark, there is also a clash on the reverse of most of the FS-1102 DDO 1909 VDB cents. Just look near the bottom of the C of CENT on the reverse and it'll be there.