2016-02-29 Mon

Numismatic News reader Michael Dustin has reported the first 1964 Philadelphia Roosevelt dime with a Doubled Die Obverse which is popularly referred to as “Hot Lips” due to the strong doubling on the lips. There is also doubling of the forehead on all issues reported. Mark Joyner of Pennsylvania found the 1964-D Roosevelt “Hot Lips” dime lips reported upon in the Jan. 6, 2015, issue of NN.

Hub doubling was possible due to work hardening. This caused the metal of the face of a die to become too hard and brittle to allow a complete image to be sunk into the die in one impression without damage. Several impressions/ hubbings were required to produce a die. Between each hubbing the die was removed from the press and heat softened thus allowing for another impression without shattering the die.

Hub doubling could also be caused if a partially finished die was reinstalled into a press for strengthening and the hub and die was improperly indexed or if the hubs varied in design from the one(s) used for earlier impressions. This results in a misalignment of images, In this case John Wexler has attributed it as “Design Hub Doubled Die.”