1970S Lincoln Cent Question

[carlb]

Recently going through the first edition of "Looking Through Lincoln Cents" I began looking at the photos and noticed that all the S mint marks had a lump looking thing inside the top of the S. This lump appears on page 229, 230 and 231. On page 232 the lump moved to the bottom, inside of the S. I have close to 3 rolls of 1970S Cents in AU or better condition and looked through all of them for Small Dates, doubling, etc. and noticed that all of mine had the same lump in the upper portion of the S except one which is perfectly clear top and bottom. My question is Why only one has no lump in the S? I have close up photos of this coin but do not know how to post one here.

[coop]

Carl: The lump or wavy mark on the inside of the mintmark is distortion/wear of the punch that makes the mint mark. The san Francisco "S" punch wears and leaves the same marks on all of the dies in which it is used. When a new punch is used the older marks disappear till a new pattern is worn into the punch and that new one shows till the punch retires. Different years have the same punch used on all coinage so you see the backround interference/lump on all dies that the punch was used on. On 1962-D Cents quite a few of the Lower "D" punches was dented. on the 1959-D mintmarks you can see a dented.curved spot on the lower part of the mintmark. You will find the mintmarks with both types with no extra priemium for either punch. It is the Varieties that are created with the punch that makes them valuable. The RPMs as they are called. D/D S/S and so forth. But on the 1970-S Cents that are small dates, the Date is what makes the determining factor. The hub for the small date made all the tops of the numbers to be in a straight line that makes the die collectable. Most of all the 1970-S Cents are not in line with the tops of the numbers, but the ones that are, they are the collectable ones. So it has nothing to do with the placement/out of placment of the mintmark that makes this die collectable, but the Date. Hope this helps. If not asked what does not seem clear.

[carlb]

Thanks for information on why there is a clear S mint mark. I've always known about the dates lined up across the top that makes the small date but it appears that some are so close to that, that it drives me nuts to distinquish which is which. So over the years I just put any 70S Lincolns in a plastic roll and hope that someday someone with better eyes than mine will fine out which is really which. It appears that some of the 7's are higher than others even in the large dates. I jsut give up on that one. Again, thanks for all the mint mark information.

[eagames]

Just reading the string about the 70-s, I had the same problem that it is hard to see the level date and also the small date is not totaly level either just more level than the large date. I found 2 easier markers to find them. First look for the weak LIBERTY that seems to get weaker from left to right, second look at the inside curl of the 9, on the large date it is blunt and on the small date it is pointed. If you see those markers look at the date and it should be the small date. Works great for me.

I'm new to this site but I think it is full of great info and I've used it to ID several DDOs and it is full of great info.

[coop]

Welcome aboard Ed. Your reading will help you come up with all discusions here at the forum. But if you still have questions feel free to ask. Ejoy the site.

[coppercoins]

Hi Folks..

First, the bumpiness in the mintmark on 1970S cents is not caused by punhc wear - it is a part of the punch, essentially the flat field that they placed the s onto wasn't flat. When mintmarks are deeply punched into the dies, the humps show. Depending on whether the top, bottom, or neither were deeply punched the bumps will or will not show. Completely normal.

Second, the best attribution point for the 1970S small versus large date is that the large date has a horizontal crease running through the 7 right under the point of the 7. All of the large dates have this. None of the small dates have it. While the "levelness" of the date is one factor, the weakness of LIBERTY is another factor, and the pointed inside of the 9 on the small date is yet another factor, the 7 is by far the easiest distinguishing difference.