U.S. collectors pay close attention to Mint marks on coins, because they may make a big difference in the value of coins of the same type and date. But why we use Mint marks, and what they have meant historically, are often neglected questions.
A Mint mark is a letter, letters or symbol denoting the particular Mint at which the coin was made. Variations or additions that indicate origin include mintmasters' marks and assayers' marks, but a Mint mark represents the enduring institution.
Coins of many countries, both today and in older times, have borne no Mint marks, usually because there is only one Mint or the country has contracted for coinage elsewhere but does not want to blare the fact.
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STARS BESIDE the date on this 1874 Spanish 5-peseta coin have six points, signaling that it is from the Madrid Mint. Mints in Segovia, Jubia, Seville and Barcelona used stars with different numbers of points.
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For more than 40 years after the first U.S. Mint began operations in Philadelphia, no Mint mark appeared on U.S. coinage. There was no need as long as the Philadelphia facility was the only Mint. As soon as Branch Mints began operating in 1836, however, Mint marks were used to designate them. (Even today, Lincoln cents struck at the Philadelphia Mint bear no Mint mark, the only U.S. coins struck for circulation to still lack a Mint mark.)
Since ancient times
Ancient Rome originated Mint marks, after the spread of territory and rule by emperors. During most of the days of the Republic, almost to the end of the period B.C., coinage was confined to Rome. In the final half-century of the Republic, military leaders increasingly asserted the right to coin money for payment to far-flung soldiers, David R. Sear notes in Roman Coins and Their Values.
Soon, a number of regular provincial Mints were established. Some precious-metal coins were issued with Mint marks as early as the reign of Vespasian, A.D. 69 to 79, but the practice did not become regular until the middle of the third century, Sear says. Presumably, he writes, they provided accountability; coinage not up to standard could be identified by origin, and appropriate remedies then could be made.
This accountability is the chief reason cited today for continuing the long tradition. Even circulating coinage of low intrinsic worth must meet standards (fairly tight ones nowadays, for vending machines). Mint marks are one way of tracing quality control problems.
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KEY ABOVE STAR beneath the date denotes Havana Mint on this 1998 Cuban 10-peso coin commemorating the centennial of the Spanish-American War.
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The early Roman practice became overly complex. Sear lists dozens of Mints and Mint marks - often multiple applications for a single Mint - but says the list is only an abbreviated one because a complete one would be beyond the scope of his generalized work.
Varieties
As the 20th century progressed, collectors began studying the Mint marks themselves more closely.
Going back to early days, the letters varied in size or configuration within a single date in a series.
Americans are used to thinking of Mint marks as initials: D for the Denver Mint, S for San Francisco and O for New Orleans, for example. Letters are used in other countries, though sometimes in a different way than in the United States; in some countries such as France and Germany, the letter A was given to the headquarters Mint and other letters were assigned to Branch Mints in order of importance.
Some countries use a monogram. Mexico uses a small O over an M for Mexico City, for instance. Chile uses a same-size O over S for Santiago.
Yet other countries use a symbol rather than lettering. Crossed hammers on a German coin denote the Kongsberg Mint. A key above a star on a Cuban coin denotes the Havana Mint.
Some designations may be subtly worked into the design. On older Spanish coins, a star separating legends might have only three points, for the Segovia Mint, or as many as eight, for the Barcelona facility.
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THE MINT MARK on this 1978 Chilean peso, a letter O positioned above the letter S, stands for the Santiago Mint. The mark is placed in a more prominent location than is usual on most countries' coinage.
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If concealment is not really the object, at least many countries seek to downplay the marks in the same way that designers' initials typically are. Mint marks are commonly consigned to the far periphery, away from main designs, or hidden in some nook of the design. In the United States, the Lincoln cent has been an exception by having the letter immediately below the date, floating in the right field. When a similar placement, in the high center obverse, was tried on the Walking Liberty half dollar in 1916 and 1917, however, the Treasury Department decided to change the Mint mark's location. In the middle of 1917, the letters were moved to an almost hidden position at lower left reverse.
It may surprise U.S. collectors today to learn that little attention was paid to Mint marks in the United States through most of the 19th century. A turnaround began after 1893, when A.G. Heaton's A Treatise on Coinage of the United States Branch Mints was published. Heaton cited example after example of Mint-marked coins that were much scarcer than Philadelphia products and that should bring high premiums.
By the time the Lincoln cent was introduced in 1909, every collector was on his toes for the differences. When the designer's initials V.D.B. were removed from the reverse soon after production began, word spread quickly that Philadelphia (no Mint mark) 1909 Lincoln, V.D.B. cents were plentiful enough but the 1909-S Lincoln, V.D.B. was going to be a premium coin from the beginning.
Early on, a note appeared in The Numismatist about a 1900-O/CC (Carson City) Mint mark on a silver dollar. No one seems to have pursued this variety for decades afterward. Even when an 1875-S/CC variety of Trade dollar was publicized, collectors appeared to regard the occurrence as a fluke from the distant past. So, when the 1938-D/S Indian Head 5-cent coins were reported in the early 1960s, many were dumbfounded and a grand search for possible other "over Mint marks" began. Several more such varieties have turned up.
So have repunched Mint marks, including instances when the letter was first punched horizontally or upside down.
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1938-D/S Indian Head 5-cent coin surprised many U.S. collectors in the 1960s. They had not considered the possibility of over Mint marks, although other varieties had been reported previously (and largely forgotten).
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Collecting by Mint as well as date became so commonplace that Mint Director Mary Brooks blamed this practice of coin collectors for an entire nationwide coin shortage. She so convinced Congress that the mandate for Mint marks was temporarily removed and none appeared on coins dated 1965, 1966 or 1967.
For more than a century and a half after Mint marks were introduced on U.S. coins, the letters were punched separately into each working die. Sometimes a single application was all that was necessary. Other times, the first letter might be too lightly impressed. So many times were second or third impressions necessary, and out of register with the first, that repunched Mint marks ("RPMs") came to be expected virtually every year in every denomination. "New" varieties are still being discovered.
All this variety ended in 1990 and 1991, as the Mint began applying the Mint mark at the model stage for each year's dies.
This system also virtually forecloses the possibility that coins meant to have a Mint mark would be produced without one. Before the system was changed, even Proof dies received the S Mint mark individually, and in a number of cases the letter was glaringly absent. And in 1982, when a quantity of circulation dimes began appearing without a Mint mark, the Mint was able to document that they came from the Philadelphia Mint, where the letter had never been applied.
Aside from these rare instances, coins that are "missing" a mandatory Mint mark are almost certainly from obstructed dies. Typically, machine grease packs the recess in the die that would form the letter on the coin.
