Mint mark guidelines

AlwaysSearching

Are there any rules as to where the mint marks are supposed to be stamped on coins. I came across a 1989-D penny with the 'D' mint mark much lower than normal (about .75-1.00 mm lower than others of the same year). Is that unusual?

I'm a newbie to coin collecting so bear with me......



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KlectorKid

Welcome! I cant answer your question sadly . What do you collect? How long have you been collecting?

Julian

You will find mintmarks in different placements, but they will all be near where they are supposed to be. There are mintmarks on both the obverse and reverse of American coins and you can find the general locations in any catalog. Hope this helps

fcloud

I don't have an answer for you, however, WELCOME to the message boards!

AlwaysSearching

I'm on the poor side of the house right now and I'm mostly into the penny realm. I almost have 2 complete mint proof sets plus I finally finished a silver proof set collection (92-present).
Penny searching keeps me occupied for the time being,... or at least until Bill Gates decides to toss a few million my way.



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LucyBop

Be Bop A Lula!

AlwaysSearching

What the heck was that?

DaveG

Lucy, for whom it is always 1957, says that to welcome new members.

Welcome aboard.

As far as mintmarks go, I'm no expert on Lincolns, but generally speaking, prior to (I'm not sure when but it might have been 50 years ago, I'll have to check), mintmarks were added by hand to coin dies. As a result, there were minute variations in the placing of the mintmark, as well as over-struck mintmarks, etc.

However, (whenever it was), mintmarks began to be added to the master die (I think), so that all coin dies now have the mintmark in the same place and there are no more over-struck or blundered mintmarks.

I primarily focus on 19th century coins, when mintmarks were added by hand, but there are folks here who are much more knowledgable than I who can tell you off the top of their heads when this change happened.

satootoko

Try checking in at Variety/Error Website. Lot of information on that kind of stuff.

Conder101

Beginning in 1985 the mintmarks for all proof coins were done on the original reduction models so from that point on minmark placement for proofs doesn not change. This technique was expanded into the production coins as well over the next five years ending with the cents in 1990. From that point on all mintmarks have been on the original reductions and appear in the same spot on every coin. Before that time the mint marks were punched into each working die by hand so they have a tendancy to wander around a bit. As a general rule the mint did their best to make sure that the mintmark did not touch any of the other parts of the design but other than that they just let them wander. In a few cases coins have been produced where the mintmark does connect with other parts of the designs.

ursabear

Welcome to the forums!

"That" was Lucy, she's refreshing, honest, and great to have on the boards. I'm a child of the 60s, but I can relate.

I think Conder101 said it best, the machinery and technique at the mint improves fairly frequently. Once upon a time, mint marks were not only hand applied, they would very often be quite different between die manufactures ("fat" S, "filled" S, "clear" S, etc.) Your '89 probably has a mint mark that is off-place from others. Very cool find!

KlectorKid

<< <i>What the heck was that? >>

That was "The Cool Kitty from Hep-Cat City"