Philadelphia minted Lincoln cents generally have no "P" mint mark ??????

Hi All !

I'm wondering why the Philadelphia minted Lincoln cents generally have no "P" mint mark. Why do the "powers-that-be" hold to that decision ? What is their thinking ?

Thanks,

ToddB67

 

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the Philadelphia mint was the first official mint and as such did not need the mintmark noting which "branch" the coin came from. as branch mints were added they were assigned mintmarks but it was still understood that no mintmark meant Philidelphia.

 

Except for the war nickels, I don't recall ever seeing a "P" mintmark on any coin before 1980. To me, the real question is: "Why did the Philadelphia Mint start using mintmarks in 1980 after nearly 200 years of producing coins without them?"

 

Then you aren't looking hard enough.

Edit. I had not read the above quote correctly when I wrote this post.
I either have dyslexia or bad lenses. I'll slow down in the future.

 

It is simple put a tradition that was maintained on the cent.

 

Saves labor costs?

 

I always believed, and who knows, I may be wrong, that other mints produce the cent for circulation ie San Francisco and other such mints to meet demand needed for the cent. To reduce collector interest, save on costs, improve on distribution, etc, it was determined that no mint mark be used so as no cent can be determined one way or the other from whence it came.

EDIT: Sorry. After some short looking I realize I was mixing up stories. I was thinking of the West Point cents that had no mint mark. My bad.

 

except that Denver cents have a D on them and San Fran. cents have an S on them and always have.

 

Yeah, I realized it after I hit the reply, hence hte edit.

 

dimeguy, you are right. The San Francisco AND West Point mints have made cents without mintmarks to supplement Philadelphia's production. Putting mintmarks on them would have been counterproductive because that would have just encouraged hoarding of them.

San Francisco has also made dimes with no mintmark, and West Point has made quarters with no mintmark to supplement Philadelphia production as well.