1946-S Mint Mark Rotated

[Guest]

I noticed a 1946-S penny with the S mint mark rotated. Is this a variety coin or is it normal for this coin?

Thank you.

[Roller]

Not a good picture for the question but, no, it is not inverted.

[djed]

Thank you. I'm not sure why the picture was rotated 90 degrees

I wasnt asking about an inverted S. I was asking whether a mint mark rotated 10-15 degrees was normal for this issue.

Again - thank you for your help.

[willbrooks]

Yes, normal. Mint marks were punched by hand into each individual working die up through 1989, so they vary greatly in position and orientation. Here is one I found.

[jfines69]

Take a look at some of the RPM (Repunched Mint Mark) listings and you will notice how much variation there is on the MM placement... Here is a link to Copper Coins (CCs) 1960D RPM listings http://coppercoins.com/diesearch.php Only a few listed but it will give a good idea on the variations!!!

[GrumpyEd]

This one is a good example:

http://www.coppercoins.com/lincoln/diestate.php?date=1958&die_id=1958d1mm005&die_state=mds

[djed]

Yes, normal. Mint marks were punched by hand into each individual working die up through 1989, so they vary greatly in position and orientation

Wow. I had no idea. It's hard to believe that 198 million coins (especially pennies) are punched by hand.

[enamel7]

Wow. I had no idea. It's hard to believe that 198 million coins (especially pennies) are punched by hand.

You're getting confused. The mint marks were punched into the die, not individual coins.

[VAB2013]

Wow. I had no idea. It's hard to believe that 198 million coins (especially pennies) are punched by hand.

The mint mark was hand punched into the individual working dies, not sure what that number would be for any given year really.

[djed]

You're getting confused. The mint marks were punched into the die, not individual coins.

Thank you. That clarifies and makes much more sense.

[GrumpyEd]

With the huge mintages (in the billions) for modern cents, there are thousands of dies per year.

That's one reason that it might be easier to find specific wheat varieties, assume you get a mixed group of 5000 wheats from a given year (like a solid circ bag of 1936 or 1941 cents), the odds of finding a specific variety for that year is much better. Sort of like the odds of finding a member of a specific family that lives in Mayberry compared to finding a member of a specific family that lives in LA.

When they only made millions of cents per year there were less different dies being used.

So if you want to find the 88-D that Will posted and you have a bag of 5000 88Ds the odds of finding a coin from that die is not great but if you have 5000 58-Ds the odds of finding that severely rotated one I posted are pretty good.

[willbrooks]

With the huge mintages (in the billions) for modern cents, there are thousands of dies per year.

That's one reason that it might be easier to find specific wheat varieties, assume you get a mixed group of 5000 wheats from a given year (like a solid circ bag of 1936 or 1941 cents), the odds of finding a specific variety for that year is much better. Sort of like the odds of finding a member of a specific family that lives in Mayberry compared to finding a member of a specific family that lives in LA.

When they only made millions of cents per year there were less different dies being used.

So if you want to find the 88-D that Will posted and you have a bag of 5000 88Ds the odds of finding a coin from that die is not great but if you have 5000 58-Ds the odds of finding that severely rotated one I posted are pretty good.

Excellent post, Ed. You are the best educator on this forum and it isn't even close. Thanks for all you do.

[jfines69]

Excellent post, Ed. You are the best educator on this forum and it isn't even close. Thanks for all you do.

I am with Will on that one!!!