I recently purchased a collection of coins from a long time collector. Included in the collection was a pile of common date Morgan Dollars in circulated condition. One of them caught my eye when I was scanning them for VAMs and potential better dates. The pictures are of a 1891-O that I at first thought was a CC, then upon further inspection, has me convinced that it is an O mint mark. I put this under a 10X and 20X loupe and saw the additional oval impressions that I'm hoping can be seen in the picture. The original O mint mark has a smear on the lower loop, and the addtional marks can be seen to the left of the orginal. These are all depressed in the center, with raised ridges to form the O, and then lead right up to the field, with a impression around the point where the O raises up from the field. This makes me think that maybe this was actually done at the mint, and this is not post mint damage. The aging of these addtional marks is the same as the rest of the coin as best as I can descern. There are 3 additional marks: farest left is just under the long leaf coming from the bow, and the other 2 additional marks are side by side, to the left of the original mark. This looks to be the slanted O variety. Please let me know your opinion on this. If you think it is an authentic mint error, who should I send it to to get this verified? In advance, thank you!
Sorry, but imo it's post mint damage. There are a few indicators, first, the O mm has definitely been damaged on the lower portion, and the inside looks like there was some scratching. As for the other oval like impressions, you can see how the metal around them is disrupted (it looks smeared or pushed in one direction). The best example is on the mark above the E in ONE, you can see how the metal has been pushed downward, distorting the leaf in the wreath and the top of the E.
Very strange indeed. While the 0 is in the position of this issue, it appears to have other markings which does look similar to a CC. Love to see this one in hand. Interesting. Hmmmm probably post mint damage.
Can't be a die clash, from the overlay below there's nothing in the area that could cause it. Imo there's no way something like that could have happened at the mint.
I think it's possible that it's an "O" that someone was trying to make into a "CC" and botched it so badly they gave up.
Thanks for all the replies. The deviation was certainly done a long time ago as it seems to have been circulated in this condition. I was concerned that it was PMD... but thought that it would be best to include some other eyes and minds on the matter. I'll be taking it with me to Florida at the FUN show to see what some more people have to say about it. It's probably as already posted... someone doing a really bad job of trying to doctor a coin.
