1944-S Mercury Dime: Need Help With Mint Mark

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 2,278
Brandmeister Pillar of the Community United States 6483 Posts	Posted 07/29/2023 10:00 pm Today I ran across an album of Mercury mint mark pictures that I took around the Fourth of July holiday. One particular mint mark caught my eye, so I retrieved it from the roll. The mark almost looks upside down. However, I have found the Variety Vista mint mark reference for this denomination to be less than ideal, so maybe I am just misunderstanding how it should look. The PCGS reference images weren't much help, either. First, the obligatory obverse and reverse. Then a picture of the S oriented correctly, then another upside down. Finally, another Mercury dime S mint mark that looks much more normal, just for comparison. And yes, that does seem to be glitter. These things have been in a roll for 30+ years, possibly closer to 50-60 years. For all I know, that glitter is from the end of WWII! =) Report this Post to the Staff

Allcoinage Pillar of the Community Australia 1510 Posts	Posted 07/30/2023 03:16 am Yes the s does look upside down, or my eyes are deceiving me. Report this Post to the Staff
Coinfrog Bedrock of the Community United States 94367 Posts	Posted 07/30/2023 08:40 am Dunno, looks pretty normal too me. Must be some Merc experts around here. Report this Post to the Staff
Brandmeister Pillar of the Community United States 6483 Posts	Posted 07/30/2023 10:29 am Is there a great guide to mint marks out there? I have been using Variety Vista and LincolnCentreSource.com. One of the questions I have is whether the same mint mark punches were used for all denominations in a particular year. https://www.lincolncentresource.com..._Styles.html I think the above MM look like MMS-005, but I am not sure. MMS-005 looks almost identical upside down. There are no thicker parts and thinner parts on the top vs. the bottom. To my eyes, my 1943 MM on the bottom looks like the 1928 large S punch, which wasn't even used anymore. Report this Post to the Staff
Brandmeister Pillar of the Community United States 6483 Posts	Posted 07/30/2023 11:04 am I think this is part of my problem. I took that 1943-S mint mark as a good reference. It looked ok, reasonably well formed. Then I did a side-by-side comparison to the 1944-S in question. But when I compare that '43 to the reference materials, it doesn't even look right anymore. This is the PCGS reference for a 1928-S large S mint mark, which was supposed to only be used one year. The 1943-S above is next to it. https://www.PCGS.com/coinfacts/coin...8-s-10c/4970 Like I don't even think that's possible, but it's just so visually confusing. Add in circulation wear and the fact that these are all hand punched with a degree of imprecision, and it feels hard to know what I'm looking at. Edit: in working through the PCGS images for 1943-S, there seem to be plenty of these curvy tailed thick S mint marks in MS grades. Also, someone needs to tell the owners of 20, 25, 26, 27 and maybe 30/34 that their coins are the much more valuable 1943-S 10c S/S RPM FS-501. Unless PCGS is just re-using the variety images for the main listings, too. Edit/edit: They are using variety images on the main listings, that just wasn't visible from the image zoom view. Nm. Edited by Brandmeister 07/30/2023 11:42 am Report this Post to the Staff
Brandmeister Pillar of the Community United States 6483 Posts	Posted 08/05/2023 12:12 am Interestingly, while doing more research, I ran across this CCF discussion on the now-acknowledged 1942 IMM. The diagram looks quite similar to this mint mark, although I don't have all the subtleties yet. http://goccf.com/t/66900 Report this Post to the Staff
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