1946-S Inverted "S" Lincoln Cent

I use the macro button, but I'm still not able to get a clear close up pic of the mint mark. I must be doing something wrong. I'm kind of new to cameras.

Hi Lincoln collector

Just thought I might give you a trick I use. I use my camera on the macro setting but I hold a 10x magnifying glass over the lens before I zoom in with the macro setting. That way it zooms in clear and you get a really good close up.

Hope that might help.

Im sure the experts will be able to tell what you've got. HAve you considered opening a photobucket account? I takes bit to get used to using but it will allow you to post really large pictures right into your post when you need to.

I saw one of these a few years back in an ANACS holder specifying the "inverted S" designation. I've never seen one. I have a SLQ with an inverted S and I've seen proof Kennedy half dollars with inverted S's.

I'm about 90% sure my coin is inverted. Too bad it's not a BU coin which would make it easier to see.

Morgansrmine and lincolncollector both show coins with large or 'serif' style mintmarks. They are not the same style mintmarks as the reported coin with an inverted mintmark, so they cannot be the same thing. BJ's coin is the ball serif mintmark style with a triangle serif and a ball serif. The ball is supposed to be on the top, and in the case BJ posted it is on the bottom - inverted.

I cannot see lincolncollector's coin well enough to tell what's going on with it, but Morgansrmine's coin is definitely properly oriented. It is not inverted.

There were three styles of mintmarks used in 1946 in San Francisco. Two of them are illustrated above, then there is a third style that has no serifs at all. It is aptly named the 'sans-serif' mintmark style. Over a number of years of collecting the information from every 1946S cent I have viewed, and with the help of others who have reported to me what they have, the following information has been gathered:

1946S serif style : 3,212 coins reported...59% of all coins reported.
1946S sans-serif style : 1,944 coins reported...36% of all coins reported.
1946S ball-serif style : 263 coins reported...5% of all coins reported.

Once generalist collectors run out of other things to collect they will eventually turn to the mintmark styles of S-mint coins of the 1940s, and one of the first coins they will turn to will be the ball-serif style mintmark of 1946S cents. Cherry red examples will probably sell for good money - if the slabbing companies turn to recognize their rarity and start annotating the style as a variety on their holders. I'm waiting - with 1.5 rolls of uncirculated ball-serif 1946S cents I have assembled over the past 10 years...yup, 10 years it took to assemble a single roll and a half in uncirculated condition.

Charles, sometimes you"ve got to knock me along side the head a couple of times to make things sink in. Is it just over polishing that makes it appear to be a ball on the bottom of of the coins we posted? Heres another, sans serif?

Yes, that is a sans-serif style mintmark.