New Orleans mint mark

I'm not so sure about that. Barber dimes show signs of the M E R A in America being punched more than once. When the O mint mark first was used, they were still using a screw press for hubbing and design elements around the periphery were punched.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

In Roger Burdette's, From Mine To Mint, it is explained on page 375, "Two dies, obverse and reverse, had the coin's face design engraved into them,..."

On page 377, it continues, "The oldest method of making a coinage die involves cutting the design directly into soft steel, then hardening the steel for use in a press. This was used before practical hubbing was available..."

The chapter goes into greater detail on the die-making process, but I don't think it is necessary for me to go any further. Punches were not used to create the legend!

 

I think "engraved" and "cutting" might be used in a generic sense, which doesn't necessarily exclude "punching". I'll ask Roger.

From Wexler "How Dies Are Made": "With the introduction of the Flying Eagle and Indian Head cents the Mint began placing the letters around the rim of the obverse onto the master die. To avoid the mistakes and inconsistencies that could occur if those letters were punched individually, a single circular punch contained the entire arrangement of letters so that they could all be impressed into the master die at one time."

This implies not only that the legend was punched, but that prior to this circular punch, letters were punched individually. There's also the widely accepted explanation for Longacre doubling... the punching. But of course this is a distraction from the topic of O.

 

Beat me to it. It also doesn't matter if you punch it upside-down into the die.

 

Of course, let's ask Roger! I'd like to hear what he has to say. @Roger W Burdette are you around?

 

https://forums.collectors.com/discu...rom-new-orleans-have-an-quot-o-quot-mint-mark

 

With his permission to quote:

"FMTM starts roughly with 1836 - the big year of Peale's innovations. Earlier, individual punches were used, which evolved into small gang punches and other details. This is why there is so much variation in early dies. As working methods evolved master dies were built up using matrix or logo punches instead of individual letters or words. Alignment jigs also helped keep inscriptions aligned and letters straight.

The Philadelphia Mint had individual letter and logo punches in use into the 20th century. These were used to prepare new master dies, retouch hubs, and even strengthen individual letters on working dies.

Records going back into the 18th century record payments to individual letter punch makers for sets of punches of various designs and sizes. So.....Yes, a full range of letter punches were available and used at the Philadelphia Mint. The disproportionately large "O" mintmark suggests an existing punch was used."

He also asks for feedback if anything in FMTM is confusing.

 

I'll have to go back and re-read some of the early chapters of FMTM. Perhaps I missed something. Thanks!

 

I'm not sure why New Orleans got the O, but Santinidollar may be on the right track with the common referring to the city as "Orleans", but there is a problem with that. In mint correspondence the mint is always referred to as the New Orleans Mint and the city as New Orleans, not as Orleans.

Of course oddly the Carson City Mint and the city are almost always referred to as the Carson Mint and the city as Carson or Carson Nevada. Almost never as Carson City. (The original name of the city was Carson, not Carson City.) So why CC?

Before about 1836 dies were made using individual punches, after that working dies were fully hubbed, but the master dies from which the hubs were raised were still made using individual punches. The Mint purchased their first reducing lathe in the latter half of the 19th century which should have reduced or eliminated the need for hand repunching although some hand touchup engraving probably still continued. And hand punching of dies did not die out completely. The Lafayette dollar dies had the lettering hand punched into the dies. After the Mint received their Janvier Reducing lathe in I think 1906 though the need for hand repunching probably ended completely.

 

Except on the mm.