I noticed this little oddity when I was moving my nickel collection from the cardboard folders to a post album. As you can see, it's a 1971-D Jefferson nickel. My interest is in the placement of the mint marks. One of the Ds seems to be a lot lower than the other. Comments?
Up until 1990 all mint marks were put onto each die by hand, so you will see a lot of variation in the locations.
Dat's right. Hand-punched mintmarks were required to be within a certain range but their location could vary, sometimes quite a bit.
Good eye! I've noticed this too, especially on wheat backs! Sometimes the mint mark is touching the date! I'd keep looking for this, if I were you! Find one that is outrageous and amazing!
