Help potentially a very exciting wheaty error!!!! 1953 D high mint mark! Help

Discussion in 'Error Coins' started by Eddo, Aug 30, 2011.

  1. Eddo

    Eddo New Member

    I was searching through my wheaties, and noticed a cent that has a high D mint mark very close to the year. It is an obvious error even when seen from far. I also can't find any information online, i was hoping someone could help me. Is this a desirable error?
     

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  3. ziggy9

    ziggy9 *NEC SPERNO NEC TIMEO*

    prior to 1990 the mintmark was applied to the die by hand and anywhere within the area is considered normal.

    Richard
     
  4. jloring

    jloring Senior Citizen

    But it's still interesting to keep examples of the extremes (very high or very low) mint marks. No added value though, and as ziggy stated, not an error.
     
  5. Eddo

    Eddo New Member

    aww, thats 2 bad...is it even possible to mark them by hand? why does the mark move really? thx for the help
     
  6. dsmith23

    dsmith23 Gotta get 'em all

    They handstamped the dies so different dies had different mm locations
     
  7. jloring

    jloring Senior Citizen

    What ziggy meant is that the Denver mint received the dies from Philadelphia, sans mint mark. Back in those days, a mint employee would manually add the "D" mint mark to the obverse die, using a metal punch. The placement of the mark was determined by how many brews the guy had the night before, but they would generally get it somewhere near and below the date. Nowadays the mint mark is part of the engraving process, so the location is fixed.
     
  8. Eddo

    Eddo New Member

    woops next time i should read...u did say hand tamped the dies the first time i thought i read coins..,silly
     
  9. Collector1966

    Collector1966 Senior Member

    Here's the other extreme-- a 1974-D cent (right side) with the mintmark practically touching Lincoln's jacket.
     

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  10. Eddo

    Eddo New Member

    this is all great info to have, I'm still learning so this coin was defiantly valuable in teaching me something. That D mark is crazy by the way, but yeah i'll still keep it after alll its worth something to me and obviously u guys keep them as well so why not.
     
  11. BadThad

    BadThad Calibrated for Lincolns

    Not worth any premium since the MM's are over the place prior to 1990. Nonetheless, some of us do keep a few unusually placed MM cents in our collections as a novelty/educational tool.
     
  12. Treashunt

    Treashunt The Other Frank

    "Help potentially a very exciting wheaty error!!!! 1953 D high mint mark! Help"


    Take a deep breath.



    Okay, no biggie.
     
  13. gboulton

    gboulton 7070 56.98 pct complete

    So THAT'S why they're called "high" mint marks! ;)
     
  14. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Its actually an interesting discussion. You know what, if a guy, (or gal, or kid), wanted to put together an interesting collection for almost nothing collecting different mint mark locations by year for lincoln cents could be a lifelong hobby. All one would need is some kind of a calibration system to be able to document the different locations the mm shows up.

    If you think about it, its not really that much different than what is done with large cents and their varieties.
     
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