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 Replies: 22 / Views: 1,487 |
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Valued Member
United States
290 Posts |
I have two Washington quarters from 1940-1955 era coins with the "S" mintmark. I will tell at the end what actual year they are but first I want you to tell me what style of S mint mark you think they are from the Variety Vista site.   |
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Moderator
 United States
72142 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2978 Posts |
Looks like MMS-005 to me.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6985 Posts |
I see MMS-002 for both (Trumpet Tail). The first one looks to be over polished, thinning it and the second one looks to have been smashed.
-makecents-
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Valued Member
 United States
290 Posts |
I did not give a date because that would be a dead give away! I gave you a range that has a few options to see whaat you come up with. These two coins are well worn never cleaned
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3932 Posts |
It is unfortunate that the VV image of MMS-002 look like it was taken on a well-worn coin with hits and wear to the MM. Makes it hard to distinguish between 002 and 005. That said, I'd say the first coin is -005, and the second coin is -002.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6985 Posts |
Ray, if there were anyone who had had a high end example of each mm style, it would be you.  Maybe post a picture of each (002,005) that will show better what they look like. Does not need to be from a quarter. -makecents-
Edited by -makecents-
04/01/2025 10:24 am
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Moderator
United States
72142 Posts |
ah ok, I misunderstood your question. my bad.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3932 Posts |
Quote:
Ray, if there were anyone who had had a high end example of each mm style, it would be you. Maybe post a picture of each (002,005) that will show better what they look like. Does not need to be from a quarter. Actually, there is a better pic of the MM already on VV, but on the general "San Francisco Mintmark Styles" page, see here: http://varietyvista.com/25%20What%2...20Styles.htmI usually go by this page for the SF MM reference. The MM designations are a bit inconsistent on VV unfortunately. I guess the same MM punch has a different designation depending on the series, yet the main SF MM page has all the punches listed and all the denominations.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4701 Posts |
The first mint mark is a Trumpet Tail S. Compare to a mint state coin: https://www.pcgs.com/cert/25383732There is tremendous variation in the TT-S, to the point where I kind of assume that multiple punches were in use. Some are thin, and others seem like the punch was crushed with use, with tiny holes instead of full loops. I don't think that die polishing can fully explain it. The second S looks like a tall S. It doesn't have that hard angle in the lower loop, so I'm not sure. The tail protrudes pretty far past the body for a TT-S, but I guess it could have been crushed or smeared. It feels like it has way too much metal in the bottom curve to be a TT-S. Also worth noting, there are instances where the years on Variety Vista S mint marks have incorrect gaps. You can find many examples on PCGS of clear overlap of certain types that are missing on VV. When I first started learning S mint marks, I gave myself a headache with a 1952-S nickel until I realized that it was a TT-S. Later, that appeared to get corrected on Variety Vista. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6985 Posts |
Quote:
It feels like it has way too much metal in the bottom curve to be a TT-S. You also need to remember that there is more metal in the later punches as they got more worn. Here is a pic of the Trumpet Tail on a 1950 quarter that is already showing the extra thickness.  Quote:
Later, that appeared to get corrected on Variety Vista. Yes, I have posted the link to that correction multiple times on this forum over the last few years. Ray (rmpsrpms), is the one who did the pictures for Will Brooks for this correction.
-makecents-
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Valued Member
United States
290 Posts |
Okay so these are both 1951 quarters. so it should only be MM-002 the trumpet tail unless some got punched early with MMS-005?
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Valued Member
United States
290 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3932 Posts |
Interesting! I did an overlay by scaling the images to the same magnification, aligning the MMs, and then animating them, see the result below. I don't think these used the same punch, as the one I think is -05 is taller than the other. The "fatness" of the punching is a variable due to punch depth, hits, etc but the overall height is mostly due to the punch. Plus, the MM can't get smaller with hits and punching, only bigger.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6985 Posts |
Ray, I did the same thing as far as the correct magnification, because the first mm pic of the OP's was larger. When I made them the same magnification and did a side by side comparison, they look to be the same height. The fact that these coins are well circulated, I feel there could be many factors that we cannot know. I feel that the first mm posted was abraded/polished which changed the look of it and the second one posted looks to have been damaged in circulation, at least this is the way I see them. I also see this as a good situation to use Occam's razor.  -makecents-
Edited by -makecents-
04/02/2025 11:07 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4701 Posts |
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Replies: 22 / Views: 1,487 |
Posted 03/31/2025 3:26 pm
