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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,129 |
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
Hello, I am new to this forum, so be gentle.lol. I have a VERY worn 1901 Barber quarter. I am new to collecting and recently bought a cheap LCD microscope. When I look at the coin under the microscope, I believe I see the remnants of an "S" mint mark. Is this worth sending it to be graded? Can it even be validated/graded as an "S" coin in this state? Pics below:    |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Show us with your marker exactly where the MM is located relative to the feathers and rim.  to the CCF! |
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New Member
 United States
5 Posts |
Thank you! Okay, not the best picture, but here it is.  |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
SilverDullard, Make sure to flatten those staples. John1  |
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
John1, Will do, thanks for the tip! &  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11880 Posts |
Welcome to the grading forum. In my humble opinion, the picture of the mintmark that you showed would not be able to confirm that this is a genuine 1901-S quarter. The reason is that, as you can see in the picture below, the S mintmark for this rare coin was thick and more importantly had prominent serifs at each end. The photo you provided of the mintmark shows an S that resembles a worm or thin noodle in the shape of an S - clearly without serifs at the ends. Coin letters, as they wear, can become pressed flatter and thicker than where they started, but I can't recall any circumstance where the MM letter becomes thinner with wear. That coupled with the missing serifs would lead me to conclude that the mintmark you photographed is not consistent with that of a genuine 1901-S quarter.  IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: " It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website: https://fairfaxcoins.com |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
74050 Posts |
To CCF! It would grade AG. I don't think it's an S mint mark, although the coin is too worn to be definite. Definitely not worth grading costs. Errers and Varietys.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1502 Posts |
AG closed auction slabs hover around 3K, surely worth grading if you can make a call on the S. As NS states, MM looks iffy. Seems too small to start with plus missing Serifs. Top might be explained away by scratch but bottom? I'd suggest taking it out of flip and getting a crisp image of Reverse. Then if you're apt with image editing software do an overlay of a known good S with your Reverse. You can see how things line up. Here is a color-manipulated image of the purported MM.  |
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
Hello everyone,
Dang you all are really good! All great feedback and it all makes a lot of sense. I'm not great with image editing software, but I'll work on getting a better image.
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New Member
United States
5 Posts |
I couldn't seem to capture it on my computer very well, and ended up just taking a picture of the microscope LCD screen with my phone. I believe you can see the serifs in this one. What do you guys think? p.s. ignore the time stamp, as I just haven't set the date/time yet.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1502 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
SilverDullard, Please no photos of your scopes screen,use a memory card...thanks. John1 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
18660 Posts |
maybe there are other markers that would be more definite. that would take a barber expert. in the meantime i'd be inclined to play with other filters etc to see if you can get it to stand out more
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
As it stands, I'm skeptical.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
It's too small to be the MM and it should be rotated counterclockwise. Yours is more or less vertical. Among the other things already mentioned - too thin, too tall and narrow relative to a real one, no serifs. It's just random marks that happen to look like an S. Here's a trick: Rotate your image 90 and 180 degrees - it doesn't even look like an S anymore.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36741 Posts |
I'm not seeing a mint mark on this one.
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,129 |
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Posted 10/20/2023 2:29 pm
