I recently picked up a roll of Mercury dimes and have been digging through it armed with the Cherry Picker's guidebook. I'm scratching my head on the S mintmark varieties of 1945 though. I think one could be a "micro-S", but, if so, this is a rather misleading variety name. The size is quite similar and only the placement seems to be remarkable (down and to the right from other mint marks). The guidebook says the s should be significantly smaller than the normal s punches... but then shows a picture of the regular that looks to be the same size as the micro. The 3rd S looks almost like a "g" due to near closure of the top right loop. Is this just a result of wear, or is it a known variety?
If it's normal-sized, it's not a micro S. The mintmarks were hand punched onto the working die and can be found all over that area.
