Differentiating Repunched Mintmarks From Overmintmarks On Coins

Many people who collect coin varieties may have heard of two similar-sounding terms that have to do with mintmark-related oddities. One is “repunched mintmark” and the other is “overmintmark.” These two terms are sometimes (but incorrectly) used interchangeably by some collectors who are referring to types of varieties that may seem sort of the same, because they involve multiple impressions of a mintmark, but are in fact very different.

Bear in mind, repunched mintmarks and overmintmarks are relics from the days when coiners had to punch the mintmark by hand onto a working die. This process for U.S. coins began in the 1830s with the introduction of the first branch facilities of the U.S. Mint through the 1980s before mintmarks were emblazoned upon master dies for circulating coins beginning in the early 1990s. Eventually, mintmarks would be added to the master hubs, which provide the source design when producing master and working dies.

Given the fact that mintmarks were once manually punched onto dies, there was a lot of opportunity for human error. That’s exactly what usually led to the creation of repunched mintmarks and overmintmarks.

What is a Repunched Mintmark?

Repunched mintmarks involve the appearance of at least two mintmark impressions that are usually offset and overlapping. Some rare repunched mintmarks will show two entirely separated mintmark impressions. The secondary (or tertiary, etc.) mintmark will generally appear smaller and lighter than the primary mintmark, which would actually be the last and fullest mintmark punched onto the die.

However, any and all impressions of the mintmark on a repunched-mintmark variety must involve the same mintmark. In other words, a repunched mintmark might involve a “D” over a “D,” an “S” beside an “S,” or some other positional permutation of the same mintmark.

What could cause a repunched mintmark in the first place? Often the repunched mintmark came in as a second attempt to correctly punch the mintmark on the die. Sometimes, they occur as a result of the punch not being correctly located on the die or not being positioned vertically in relation to the coin’s design.

In some cases, the repunched mintmark is created after an incorrect first punch was (mostly) removed from the die by way of polishing or abrading, with the correct mintmark being later punched onto the die. But in all cases, the repunched mintmark is a repetition of an earlier attempt to punch the same mintmark on the die.

What About Overmintmarks?

Overmintmarks involve at least two different kinds of mintmarks, one punched over the other, usually borne from some type of error in punching the first. How could this have happened?

Historically, the Philadelphia Mint has served as the main mint among the family of many U.S. Mint facilities. And it is there where hubbing and die preparation for the entire U.S. Mint system had generally been performed. Among the many tasks of the Philadelphia Mint was punching mintmarks onto dies allocated for use at branch mints. This is how it’s possible to see two (or even more) different kinds of mintmarks coexisting on an overmintmark coin.

As we’ve seen with the repunched-mintmark coinage, there are any number of ways a mishap could have occurred when punching mintmarks onto dies by hand. In the case of overmintmarks, the failures would occur not necessarily with positioning a mintmark in the wrong place on a die or accidental reverb upon the strike creating an inadvertent double mintmark…

Rather, the overmintmark would have happened by a coiner initially punching the wrong mintmark on the die, with the correct mintmark coming onto the scene after. Therefore, a coin must reveal at least two different kinds of mintmarks (i.e., “D” and “S”, etc.) for it to qualify as an overmintmark variety.

Are Repunched Mintmarks and Overmintmarks Collectible?

You bet they are! Many collectors love pursuing repunched mintmarks and overmintmarks in their collections, and many categories on the PCGS Set Registry accommodate the inclusion of such varieties in various coin sets. Many of these coins are popular collectibles, such as the famous repunched mintmark variety known as the 1909-S/S, S Over Horizontal S Lincoln Cent or 1954-S/D Overmintmark Jefferson Nickel. Both coins are among the many such repunched mintmark and overmintmark varieties that are worth strong premiums and actively sought by both collectors.