Newbie question

[utmike]

I recently found a 1944 D with a very highly placed mintmark. The D is right up near the date and stands out from others I have. Common variety?

Thanks, great site! Looking forward to spending some time here!

[trails]

Since the mint marks were hand punched into the working dies, you will find a large array of placements. That practice stopped in 1989 when the MINT began placing the mint mark on the master die. By doing this, putting the mint mark on the master die, the MINT effectively stopped the meandering mint mark and also the repetitive mint mark (RPM - re-punched mint mark).

This may have seemed a good thing for the MINT and to be honest, it did save them a lot of time. However, for the variety collector it stopped the RPM (there are none from 1990 to the present) and also took away a valuable tool for identifying a certain die; mint mark location.

I guess that is the price we pay for progress.

BJ Neff

[utmike]

Thanks for the info.!