Why Does This Coin Appear To Have A Mint Mark?

I have seen several posted asking the same thing and have one in my collection. Most say it isn't there when it is pretty obvious that something is there and is a reasonable facsimile of a filled mint mark. This is a 1932 quarter.

 

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There is nothing obvious in your image. Try again.

 

Same image cropped.

And cropped again.

 

Yes, there is something there! The only problem is that it is not a mintmark.

Chris

 

I see two dark vertical marks close to where a mintmark would be.

If I zoom in and stare really, really hard, I see a fish swimming from left to right. One of those fish with the fancy, frilly fins. With flames coming off the back.

 

Cropping and re-cropping doesn't change anything. You need to resize the image after you crop it.

With that said, there is still no mintmark there.

Chris

 

And blown up.

 

Sorry but that is of no help.

 

Honestly.. I kind of see a D

 

This is stupid. Waste of time.

 

And blowing up a low-resolution image doesn't help, either. At this point all you're doing is making compression artifacts bigger. You'd need a new photo, a good macro shot, in-focus.

Yes, I see a vaguely D-shaped blob now, but it's less prominent than the random blobs elsewhere in the field. There's a bolder "mirror-reversed S-D" off to the left, and a "triple-punched offset D" off to the right.

I guess one of us should (re)post the direct answer to the question in the thread's title:

Pareidolia

 

I always thought you were BLIND! Now I know for sure - it's an "S."

 

@Hommer , if you go back to your original image of the entire reverse, you can also see a naked man standing on the left end of the olive branch taking a leak.

Anything is possible if you stare long enough!

Chris

 

There is nothing RAISED in the area where a mintmark would be if there was a mintmark. They are 2 black wavy lines (fish). There are black marks on the Eagle's legs and wings. The black marks are all similar, just a different shape.

I copied, pasted, cropped and blew up the area in question without losing resolution. If I close my eyes and think real hard, I still don't see a D.

 

Sorry Hommer but you asked a question and I didn't answer it. You asked "Why does this coin appear to have a mintmark?" The only answer I can give you is, You've had a little too much to drink.

 

The images above are pcgs images and are not mine nor my coin. I have a couple more of different coins that show that same detail. Still not my coin or images.

 

Truthfully Hommer, as one of the members making jokes at your expense, coins like this DO EXIST. I do see what you are seeing on the second coin and it looks like an "S." Experienced numismatists will tell you that if you look at enough coins - sooner or later - you can "find" every letter of the alphabet and every numeral (including Roman ) somewhere on their surface. The blob on your coin is in the correct place. This coin needs to be sent to either ICG or ANACS ONLY as those people will give it the attention it needs when sent in with what you wish them to look for. If you have two or more examples send them together as comparison pieces. Do not get your hopes up.

PS I have a similar coin, a BU Morgan dollar with a much more pronounced "O" mintmark that was not completely defaced from the die. On my coin, the "O" is more pronounced (similar to S/CC Trade dollar) than the mintmark on yours and it has been authenticated but never reported. I have been looking for another, then I'll get it VAM'ed.

 

I have one in my collection that I might look at once a year. I've never posted about it, but everytime i look at it, that detail is obvious.I was just scrolling through coins on an auction site weeks ago and came across the PCGS graded MS 64 coin. I really wasn't even looking for the coin, but the photo kinda jumped out at me as something that I had seen before. I saved the images and moved on. Last nite I was deleting images and ran across it again. I started actually looking for others like it after that and found another. I looked at probably 200 coins before I found the second coin I posted. It sure looks like an S to me, in any case, there are more than one with those details out there.

 

Someone fraudulently added an S to this coin in an amateurish counterfeiting attempt. The S has since fallen off or been removed, and the ghost of an S remains.
(Just a guess).

 

And pcgs strait graded it?