Re-punched Mint Mark: On Lincoln cent business strikes, the mint marks were punched by hand into the Working dies up through 1989, and on proof coinage until 1985. Sometimes a punch contacted the die more than once; sometimes purposefully due to the first punching being unsatisfactory, or sometimes accidentally due to the punch bouncing or skipping during the initial hit. If subsequent hits by the punch did not line up exactly with previous punchings, a secondary mint mark would be created on the die and all the coins it struck. Most of these re-punchings were just slightly rotated from the first, and can be identified by noting split serifs. Many publications call these “tilted” rpms, but “rotated” might be a better term, since a punch could also be tilted on an angle of incidence into the die.
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