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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;bradgator2, post: 7564998, member: 110679&quot;]I recently purchased an 1899 Morgan Dollar with the “micro” New Orleans mint mark, which is commonly listed as one of the major varieties.&nbsp; As I placed it into the correct location in my Morgan collection it got me thinking about the extreme variations in the mint marks of my Morgan Dollars.</p><p><br /></p><p>For a little history, here are some condensed notes from David Bowers book on Morgans:&nbsp; The Engraving Dept kept a supply of letter punches for use in adding mintmarks.&nbsp; There were different sizes for different diameter coins.&nbsp; It was usually the job of the assistant engraver to add the mintmark.&nbsp; The use of punches was very casual.&nbsp; Sometimes large punches were correctly used, sometimes medium punches were used, and sometimes micro punches were used.&nbsp; Some were short and wide, while others were tall and thin.&nbsp; In 1878, two small Cs were used.&nbsp; After 1879, it was two large Cs.&nbsp; In 1884, the elliptical O was replaced with a round O.&nbsp; The engraver eyeballed the position.&nbsp; The punch was held by hand.&nbsp; This led to wide variations in both position and tilt of the mintmark.&nbsp; In 1895, the S mintmark was first punch horizontally.&nbsp; IN 1882, an O mintmark was placed over the top of an S mintmark.</p><p><br /></p><p>So I offer you some pictures of actual coins from my collection, but only of the mintmark.&nbsp; First, the “normal” ones:</p><p><br /></p><p>The classic no mintmark from Philly:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304455[/ATTACH]</p><p>Carson City:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304456[/ATTACH]</p><p>New Orleans:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304457[/ATTACH]</p><p>San Francisco.&nbsp; Interestingly, all my S mintmarks are a &quot;mess&quot;:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304458[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>And I guess, we have to include Denver:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304459[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Now...&nbsp; some hiccups:</p><p><br /></p><p>1879 Large CC over small CC (one of only 2 Morgans with a detailed grade):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304460[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The 82 O/S mentioned above:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304461[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>1888 S repunched over another S:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304462[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>1900 O placed over a CC.&nbsp; I&#039;d love a better coin.&nbsp; But you can make out the lower point of the 2nd C:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1304463[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>A couple more...&nbsp;&nbsp; oops, have to be in the next post:[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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