I found two Lincoln cents that have date marks that have a pretty obvious tilt to them and two that have date marks much closer to Lincoln's shoulder than normal. I've tried looking this up in different places and I can't find any information on it. Do I have something here or is this common and not worth a whole lot? Sorry, no pictures. The best camera I have on me is a VGA phone camera that can hardly resolve the entire penny itself. Edit: If it makes any difference, the two with the tilt are 1987 and 1986. The ones with the low mint mark are 1994 and 1988.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Monk! While collecting Lincoln cents is not my niche, others would still probably need to see photos if they are to help you. If you're becoming interested in the hobby, you will find that having a decent digital camera is almost a must when it comes to posting questions about coins on this or any other coin forum. When it comes to coins, there are some very smart people here, but they do have difficulty reading minds. Chris
Thanks Chris. I have a digital camera back home, so I might be able to take a really close up picture once I head back from college. I'm not an avid collector yet, but I'd like to be.
Monk, I'm unclear on whether it's the dates or the mint marks you are talking about. If it is the mint marks, before 1990 they were punched onto the dies by hand, so there will be variations from one die to the next. Some will be well centered while others will be closer to the bust or further away from it. Also the orientation of the mint marks varied some for the same reason. It's not unusual at all to find them tilted several degrees beyond vertical.
Alright. So probably not worth anything, that's too bad, I thought I had something. Oh well, I'm sure I'll find something eventually while looking through tons of pennies. It's basically my favorite thing to do. I was referring to the mint marks and not the dates. Each coin is D. But if they were punched by hand, would that mean anything for the one I have that is 1994? Thanks for you help.
As jallengomez says, the mint mark was added to the master die after 1990-91, but it is only after 1994 that the mint mark was added to the original coin Model, and any possibility of a RPM or variation in location of a certain coin ( such as a 1995 D lincoln) was theoretically eliminated. Or so they say
Heh, bummer. I guess the only value it could really have is neatness. I'm not sure how that ranks. in dollars.
They vary in location because they are hand punched into the dies on pre 1990 d & S cents. They are in an location with some mint marks over another mint mark. Here are a few examples: Low: http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/LOW_MINT_MARK.jpg Tilted: http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1986-D_Angled_Mint_Mark_Placement.jpg Close and a RPM (RePunched Mint mark) http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1955S_1MM_001.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1953D1MM_002MDS.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1953S_RPM_3MM.jpg RPMs http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1953D1MM001.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1953d1mm012m.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1910S-1MM-002.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1927d1mm001l.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1929D_1MM_001.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1938s1mm001e.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1938s1mm002l.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1944d1mm001m.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1944d1mm004l.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1944s1mm007l.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1945s1mm006m.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1949D_1MM_001.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1960d1mm001m.jpg http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1960D-1MM-013_LARGE.jpg ETC..................
Well, I definitely learned something from this. I had no idea that mint marks were ever hand stamped. Thanks for all the help. I guess now I can just add them to the penny pyramid I'm making.
Well, it seems for some years and mints ( 1961 and 62 in Denver strikes my mind) it was not an esteemed job and some really odd mint marks occurred. I forget how many repunched mint marks there were, and it is too late to go to Coppercoins.com to count them up, but there were a lot.
They were hand punched into the dies. Thus the same location/locations will be exactly the same location. That is just the dies fingerprint on which die they are from. A few hundred dies have the RPMs. Who knows how many different normal dies were made for 1960-D's. I'be been collecting the 1960-D RPMs and still don't have them all yet. You just have to find the right person selling the different die numbers to get the ones you need.
