Not an error. The mint mark was applied to the die by hand with a punch. so long as the mintmark does not touch the date, bust, or rim it is considered normal. Richard
I am confused. What is misalligned? Just to give you some idea how much variability there is, they made 4 dies for the 1909-S VDB cent. Here is what they looked like. Now imagine what 400 different dies would look like.
I don't see an S mint marks on that 1909 that is directly below the 0 and alittle to the east like the 1927 D is. I'm not officially claiming it's anything really. It just caught my eye because of the location of the mint mark. I'm sure it's worth a few dollars, only 27 million minted 83 years ago. I have quite a few 1927 D's and this is the first one I found with the mint mark this far off.
If the S in #4 were farther to the east and alligned with the east side of the 0 in 1909 like the 1927 D is with the 2, I might agree.
I'm a newbie. That said - Do you know if the mink marks are still done that way, or have they changed the method and when? I've been looking at quite a few 1970-S Lincolns and they vary quite a bit in distance and position related to the date. If the process was still in use in 1970, it would explain the variation.
In 1985 (for proof coins) and 1990-1991 for circulation coins, they applied the mint mark to the production hub instead of the hand-punching the working dies.
First off, welcome to cointalk. I do not remember the exact date, but it was used until sometime in the 1980's (1983?). Yes. the process was still used in 1970.
Mintmarks were hand-punched into working dies until about 1990. Beginning about 1990 the mintmarks were added to the Master Hubs. (I don't have the exact date of the change. A few years earlier mintmarks were added to the Master Hubs for Proof coinage.) So since about 1990 the mintmark location is the same on every coin in a particular series.
1989 was the last year the mint marks were hand punched. Starting with 1990 they are part of the die. If the mint marks are doubled after that time it could be machine doubling or a doubled die. There are a few great examples of this. http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1995D-1DO-003_joe_ebay.jpg On the pre 1989 coins, if the date and mint mark on the cents are doubled in the same direction, then 99% of the time it is just machine doubling. Then hand punching of the mint mark gives a variety of locations so the mint mark location can be used to identify varieties. (IE: RPMs, doubled dies) There is no such thing as a mint mark miss alignment. They happen where they are punched.
Great Stuff! Thanks to all of you for replying and the enlightenment. It's my (limited) experience that it's easier to find answers about a specific coin and/or date than these more general questions. I'm both impressed and 'clam happy' (smiling-ear-to-ear).
