1943-S Doubled Die Obverse

The 1943-S Doubled Die Obverse is the San Francisco entry in the famous trio of wartime hub-doubled Washington quarters, attributed by PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, as FS-101 in the Cherrypickers' Guide reference system. The doubling shows on IN GOD WE TRUST and on the date 1943, the result of a misaligned hubbing during die preparation when the working die received two impressions slightly offset from one another. The combined San Francisco mintage for the date was 21,700,000 pieces, but only a portion of that total came off the doubled die before it was retired; surviving examples of the variety are notably scarce relative to the standard 1943-S and consistently rarer than the 1943 Philadelphia DDO that shares the year.

Authentication begins with a five-to-ten-power loupe on the obverse motto. Genuine hub doubling on the variety produces clear separation on the letters of IN GOD WE TRUST, with the cleanest spread visible on TRUST, along with rounded secondary impressions in the digits of the date. Machine doubling, which is not collectible doubling and reflects only die chatter at the moment of strike, shows as a flat shelf-like effect rather than the rounded, fully-formed secondary image hub doubling produces. The distinction matters because raw "1943-S DDO" listings include many machine-doubled coins that do not meet the variety standard, and the price gap between attributed and unattributed material is substantial. Buy this coin certified by PCGS or NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, with the FS-101 designation noted on the holder. Strike on the variety follows the typical San Francisco wartime pattern, with softness on Washington's hair above the ear and on the eagle's breast feathers, so condition censuses skew toward MS63 and MS64 rather than the absolute top grades.

The variety is the rarest of the three wartime Washington DDOs in certified populations, with both PCGS and NGC reporting modest census numbers across all Mint State grades. Realistic acquisition is a slabbed MS63 to MS65 sourced through a major auction house, with prices well into four figures in mid-Mint State and substantially higher in gem. Set collectors pursuing the complete Washington quarter variety run treat the coin as one of the cornerstone entries alongside the 1942-D and 1943 Philadelphia doubled dies. For the broader story of John Flanagan's design and the series' production arc, see the Washington Quarter series history.