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 Replies: 18 / Views: 3,726 |
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Valued Member
United States
384 Posts |
So there is P, D, and S, and W as well. And if you are a world coin collector, you've seen more exotic things. For example, take a look at the mint marks from Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identi...n_euro_coinsSo are letters the simplest most elegant things in the world? Or do you, like me, think the US Mint(s) should have taken the time to design themselves a cool symbol? Edit: Please feel free to include and discuss all mints around the world that use letters vs symbols. Edited by AlmostCollectible
06/29/2011 5:33 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
I think canada used H for something and Mexico used M for Mexico City. I like the letter used instead of a symbol because people can figure out where their coins are made a lot more easily.
Edited by rachums107
06/29/2011 5:44 pm
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Valued Member
 United States
384 Posts |
I think Mexico uses somewhat of a symbol made of letters, o over M. And I think symbols can do the task just the same, cause they identify the mint as well, only they are not letters. Many people who don't collect coins don't know what P,D,S stand for anyways, and they don't even care to look. I think, it's mostly for collectors, and for what it was for, way back centuries ago. So it might as well be a design, instead of a letter.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3276 Posts |
i personally like the letters more. I don't think you need a beautiful design for a mintmark. the coin itself should be the beautiful design. letters work fine for me, and like rachums107 said, it's easier to tell where your coins are made.
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
Thanks for that excellent link, Almost, I've certainly learned a new thing or two from it. Now personally I prefer designs or marks as opposed to letters. A good part of the excitement for me is identifying coins especially if they have a different mint mark. The best country I've found is India. Such a big variety of mints have been used since it became a Republic. no mint mark = Kolkata (Calcutta). A dot = Noida. A star under the 2nd and 3rd digit of the date, or a diamond split vertically, or an incuse dot in a diamond = Hyderabad. A star below the first or last digit of the date = Taegu (Korea). A diamond under the the 2nd and 3rd digit of the date, or a B or an M = Mumbai (Bombay). A diamond below the 1st digit of the date or a tower = British Royal Mint. Letter C = Ottawa. Letter H = Birmingham (Great Britain). Letter M beneath letter O = Mexico City. Letter M in an oval = Pretoria. Letters MK in a circle = Kremnica (Slovakia). Letters MMD in an oval = Moscow. Took me a while to learn them all but it does impress people when I can examine an Indian coin and say "Ah yes, minted in such or such a place." The Moscow mark is the same as found on the more modern Russian coins. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1358 Posts |
Hehe.. Speaking of those Russian coins.. I tried identifying some Russian coins last night, and I couldn't tell what that mintmark was for a little while.. I guess that might have been because all my coins were MMD, so I couldn't tell between it and the CMD mintmark.. Thanks for the link, AlmostCollectible.. It made me realize how much cooler Euro coins were than I originally thought!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
For older US coins, there is also O, CC and for gold C. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Quote:
I like the letter used instead of a symbol because people can figure out where their coins are made a lot more easily.
However, that is because most people already know what each letter stands for. For example on our coins an S could stand for almost any place that starts with a S such as Salt Lake City, SanDiago, etc. A W could be Walmart as far as anyone really knows. And a P too could be Portland, Or. or a place in China making our coins. Nothing for a Mint Mark on our Cents could even be New York, Chicago, Nashville. The usage of a letter on our coins is only good if you already know where they are made. Of course a symbol would be the same thing. Only good if you aleady know what it means. |
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
Let's take the time to remember the original D-Mint... Dahlonega!  |
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Valued Member
United States
384 Posts |
Yeah I couldn't figure out some of the Russian mint marks at first, but once I knew what they looked like, I knew where they came from. India is tough though, especially on old worn coins. They should have added a little more relief to the coins. I still haven't memorized all the European mint marks, nor do I have coins to represent all the mint marks yet, but for me it is definitely more fun looking for/at symbols then plain old letters! I can only look at a P for so long, and all it says is that it's a P. A symbol can have a story and tell you something about the region too if chosen carefully.
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Valued Member
India
229 Posts |
thai you seem to be an expert on indian coins
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Moderator
United States
14463 Posts |
and lets not forget the US used & uses " no mint mark" for Philadelphia (depending on year and type) Edited by Fuzzy317
07/29/2011 05:30 am
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
A little odd that the article about identifiers on euro coins includes several non-euro countries. :) But maybe there is no article that covers both euro and non-euro countries ... By the way, this part http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identi...f_euro_coins is quite misleading. The coins of the five countries mentioned do meet the criteria and conditions that applied when they were first issued. The reuqirements specifically say that existing designs do not have to be altered. Which is also why the German commemorative coins, being "new" designs according to these criteria, do have either the full country name or a plain "D". Now "D" is also one of the mint marks, so that may be a little confusing. Personally I prefer simple mint marks, as logos tend to be updated or replaced more often. Finnish euro coins for example merely had a mintmaster sign ("M") between 1999 and 2006. Then, between 2007 and 2010, they had the mint's logo plus the country identifier "FI" instead. This year they started using the lion logo instead of the old one that the Wikipedia article shows ... Christian |
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New Member
Singapore
33 Posts |
Coins of the Straits Settlements mint marks mostly found in SE Asia, from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II (1961) H - Ralph Heaton & Sons, Birmungham R - Royal Mint, London C - Indian, Calcutta B - Indian Mint, Bombay KN - King's Notton Metal Co, England |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
So all this about Mint Marks that most of the World has no idea what those letters mean should be a reason for the following: Put the entire name of the Mint on each coin. Would be small but already lots of stuff on our coins and currency so why not? Always room on currency for an entire Mint name. And for larger coins and currency, also the State not just the town so on many coins it would say Denver, Colorado. This could be on the reverse instead of things like a shield or a building that no most do not know where or what it is. Dimes would be a tuff one so have to get rid of that thing in the middle on the reverse.   |
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Pillar of the Community
Germany
1238 Posts |
That would mean that, instead of using the "F" on German coins, we could put "Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg" there. Or why not the full state name? No "J" but "Hamburg, Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg", hehe. As far as I know, Chinese coins do not have any mintmarks, even though they have four mint locations. Seems to work fine for them. In Germany on the other hand, the mints even use "secret" marks in cases where no official mintmark is used. Latest example is the collector coin issued for this year's Women's Football World Cup: The pieces have no mint marks, however ... the edge inscription is DIE ZUKUNFT DES FUSSBALLS IST WEIBLICH. There are five mints in Germany, and five "S" in that motto. So if the first S has a tiny serif, the piece was made in Berlin; if the second S has it, the coin was minted in Munich, and so on. Christian Edited by chrisild
07/30/2011 06:08 am
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Replies: 18 / Views: 3,726 |
Posted 06/29/2011 11:07 pm
