Silly Mint Mark Question.

Until the late 80's mint marks were hand punched into the dies. Placement was all over the place.

For RPMs, mintmark position is one of the determining factors to tell that two coins are from the same die. Attribution works in the following order:

1. Attributes of the doubling - What does the doubling look like? ONLY if it looks identical to the control (another coin or images), move to step 2.
2. Position of the mintmark - Does it match exactly to the control (images or another coin)? ONLY if the mintmark is in the same spot on both, move on to step #3.
3. Other Markers - Check for matching die scratches, cracks, or other unique die damage that show on both the test subject and the control. You may not always find anything even if both coins are from the same die because of differing die state.

Of course #2 above only works on coins with mintmarks that were minted during the time when mintmarks were applied individually to the dies. For Lincoln cents this is through the 1989 issue. In 1990 the mintmark was placed directly onto the master die, which means all mintmarks were identical and in the same location - hence no chance for RPMs because all working dies are a transfer product of the master die (through a couple of other steps).

here are the two different ones that prompted me to post. Maybe these images along with Chucks advice can help others too.

LD

What's up with all the warts on that one ?

Sorry Joe...but toads cause warts on coins,not frogs

You got a Toad Joe? You starting a collection of reptiles?...

In all seriousness, Thanks for the post You and Mr Daughtrey cleared up a lot of issues I had..I knew about all the MM being hand stamped up till 1989, but the attributing always had me up a stump.

Toads and frogs are amphibians not reptiles.