hopefully this one's a mistake

its on a 1878 morgan dollar,it was from a group of silver dollars i picked up all of which arent in the greatest of shape.but on the mint mark it idoesnt look like an S or a D it looks like a square.im new to the coin hobby so i pretty much know its something easy i just dont know about. thanks in advance:smile:smile

 

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Those aren't the best photos but it looks like an 'S' mintmark on a well-circulated Morgan Dollar.

 

You may have this, check the other things it lists
http://www.vamworld.com/1878-S+VAM-60

 

Could also be these
http://www.vamworld.com/1878-S+VAM-56
http://www.vamworld.com/1878-S+VAM-57
It could also be just wear though

 

Looks like an "S" to me.

Can you post some close-up pics of the mint mark right-side-up?

 

2nd pic shows an "S".

 

i scanned it then cut out the part

 

i'll do the feathers on the arrow tomorrow- thanks for your help

 

It's definitely a S mint mark. It also looks like the coin has been harshly cleaned.

 

I don't think it's the VAM-60. The MM position is wrong. This is more centered than the high and left VAM-60.

 

the top coin has normal arrow feathers and a S and the bottom one is has the arrow feathers of the Vam (hopefully)

 

I believe the 1878-S was only produced with parallel arrow feathers. Your top photo must be an 1879-S or later. The only one that had the slanted arrow feathers for 1878 was the 1878-P 7TF C Reverse.

By the way, ALL morgan dollars are VAM's.

Chris

 

im new to coins.(the top pick was to compare feathers)the second pic is of the coin that i first posted about-its 1878

 

That's okay! It can be a little confusing unless you have the "VAM Encyclopedia" to read about it. To make it more confusing, the '78 Reverse with the parallel arrow feathers (PAF) was also used on some of the 1879-S and 1880-CC.

Chris

 

then what would this be..thanks.to much to learn:headbang:

 

Well, there were six different styles of the "S" mintmark used for the Morgan dollars. It looks like it is the Type III which was used for 1878 & 1879. However, it looks as though there might be an underlying mintmark, but it is definitely not any of the six styles, and it appears to be a lot smaller. This is just a guess, but it could be an over-punched mintmark (OPM). You see, in those days, the dies were shipped from the Philadelphia Mint without the mintmark, and it was up to the branch mints to add it to the dies. Since San Francisco was also producing other denominations, it's possible that the diesinker picked up the wrong mintmark punch, one for say, a half dollar or quarter dollar. When he realized his mistake, he simply repunched it with the correct one. Like I said, I'm just guessing, and it would have to be examined much more closely under a microscope to be sure.

Chris

 

That isn't my understanding. In fact there are occaisionally letters from the branch mints to Philadelphia informing them that the dies arrived without the mintmarks on them and requesting replacements or permission to use them without the mintmark on them.

 

Conder, I know I read it somewhere, but I can't for the life of me remember in which reference book it was. Like you said, it was cited in some letters. I'll keep looking.

Chris