Coolest Mint Mark Locations

Hope this doesn't strike anyone as too weird, but I'm really captivated by old-style mint mark locations, before they were all moved to the obverse adjacent to the date. I really like the ones which are discreet and even artistic with respect to the relation of mark and devices. Examples follow:













Oh and there's one obverse location I think is pretty cool:



Now what am I forgetting? I don't know gold too well, I'm too poor

 

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Whoa, here's a cool one. As it happens, my own grandmother was instrumental in saving this mint. The actual mint, that is, not the coin!

 

Nothing weird about an obsession. Most of what I collect does not have mint marks at all, but I do like the O on the 1839 half on the obverse. Makes it easy to find.

 

I think this is a great topic! Personally, my favorite is the mintmark on the Walking Liberty half. It's a more discrete mark like the ones you mentioned. It's also my favorite coin design overall!

 

i love the location and shape of it on the silver war nickles, i think it is really cool that they are large and elongated letters

 

One of My coolest Mintmark 1943 D/D Steel cent. & a double denomination 1995 w/ P Mintmark.

 

WOAH! now that is cool!

 

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I'm a huge fan of the obverse mintmarks on the 1916 and 1917 WLs.

 

This is a cool topic. Personally, I have always thought the mintmark too small on the Peace dollar, but enjoy very much the obverse mintmark on Reeded Edge half dollars-

 

It is a beautiful coin, and a neat & discreet mark for sure!

Can you explain this a bit?

Why did these oddities come about?

 

The 1839-O is not an oddity for having an obverse mintmark. The first branch Mints came online in the 1830s (C, D and O) and each of these started production with obverse mintmarks as well as reverse mintmarks. It was not until later that the reverse mintmark became the norm.

 

How about the St. Gaudens double eagle, with the mint mark ABOVE the date on the obverse, and the designer's monogram masquerading as a mint mark beneath? Not sure I'd call it "cool", but it's certainly... distinctive.

 

For some reason, I always liked the MM location on Morgans.

 

John Anthony posted an ancient Roman coin with the ANT mintmark. This means the Licinius coin he posted was minted under the reign of Licinius Ceasar at the mint located in the City of Antioch, in what is modern day Syria.
US mintmarks are pretty straight forward:
P - Philadelphia
D - Denver
S - San Francisco
Whereas the mintmarks on Ancient Roman coins basically follow the same pattern, ie that the mintmark represents the city in which the coin was minted, the mintmarks on many ancient Roman coins are little more complex to decipher. First off there were many more cities in which coins were minted. Second, there were several different mint marks for the same city/mint. As an example, I've listed just those Roman mints in cities beginning with the letter A below:
Alexandria in Egypt (Coin mint marks: A, AL, or ALE)
Ambianum in Gaul (Modern day Amiens in France; coin mint marks: AMB or AMBI)
Antioch in Syria (Of Biblical fame; see the Book of Acts. Coin mint marks: AN or ANT)
Aquileia (located in modern day Italy; coin mint marks: AQ or AQVIL)
Arelatum in Gaul (Modern day Arles in France; coin mint marks: AR or ARL)
Augusta Trevirorum/Treverorum (Modern day Trier in Germany; coin mint marks: TR or TRE)

So you can tell the coin JA posted was minted in Antioch by the ANT mintmark located under the image of Jupiter on the reverse. "in exergue" means roughly located in relief generally under the main device on the reverse of the coin.

Hope this helps.

 

Can't really say if I have a specific favorite. I am quite enamored of the types with the most variability in terms of mintmark placement and style. I try to find examples of those coins like the 1941 Trumpet-tail "S" dime with a small number of identified dies that have different mintmark placements, or examples of each mintmark style for those years with multiple styles. I guess from that perspective, the Lincoln cents and Washington quarters would be my favorites. Favorite year is easy - 1952. 2 or 3 mintmark style from each branch mint.

As far as foreign coins go - Germany - as many as 7 different minmaks within a given year.

Hve fun

 

thats not the mintmark, that's the denomination. D for dollars

 

Whoaaaa.. You got him....2 1/2 Dollars (D) Not a Mintmark...lol

 

Just in case there is any possible confusion from anyone looking at this thread; the coin in question has a C mintmark above the denomination on the reverse.