1974-D very low D Lincoln cent

I was looking through some cents that came in a mixed US-foreign coin bag that I bought yesterday and I happened upon a 1974-D cent with a very low D. I have never seen such a low D on a modern cent before.

Here is a scan of the low-D coin, on the right, with a normal-D coin on the left.

Perhaps it is no big deal, but if anyone could give me an informed comment about this coin, I would appreciate it.

 

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"Informed" in what way? I'm informed these mint marks were hand-punched on the dies back then and that there were tolerances in terms of the area they were supposed to hit. Whether that mint mark on the right is so many millimeters outside of that area, I'm not sure, nor about what, if any, significance in terms of a premium on the coin's value that fact might have.

 

We do find them and

We do find them and they do stand out but there is no normal or standard "D" placement during this era. Yes, many do look exactly the same but some do not and yours is very low. When I find them in mint state I do set them aside because they are so different but I do not think they will ever warrent much price over normal cents.

 

I didn't mean to sound condescending or anything like that, I was just hoping to get the opinion of someone who is familiar with this sort of thing. I had thought that the placement of mint marks on the dies had become pretty much automated by the 1970s, and having looked through tens of thousands of cents from that era, I had never come across one with as low a mint mark as this one.

 

Hand punched in different areas. I've found one low one also and set it aside. It will probably be more of a conversation piece than anything else.

 

It was not automated till very late 1980's early 1990's

It was not automated till very late 1980's early 1990's (and even then not all series) when the mint-mark was part of the galvano.

 

found one last year - looks like it might be from the same die

posted it over on Lincoln cent resource

http://www.lincolncentresource.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1209

Snowman

 

Oh no, not hardly. It's like Ben said. These weren't part of the dies until then.

 

May I borrow your picture to re-post on another forum to find out more information about it? I found one just like it.