My 1909 S Indian mystery

[GarryN]

Here are two photos of the mintmark on the 1909 S Indian. There is a notch on the upper serif of the S. Is it just an unfortunate "hit" or something else? Rick Snow said it was a hit.

Much different mintmark than used on the 1909 S VDB


http://home.comcast.net/~g.naples/wsb/html/view.cgi-photo.html--SiteID-1083547.html

[coppercoins]

I'm not sure I see exactly what you're seeing, but I can tell you that the upper serif forms a 'curly-cue' with vertical sides - this is the case with all 1909S cents, indian and Lincoln. It sort of looks like the curl you get on the top of a soft-serve ice cream cone.

[GarryN]

Its just that notch at the right end of the upper serif I was referring to, Chuck

[coppercoins]

I don't know then...I can't see it. That might be something worth contacting Rick Snow about.

[GarryN]

Rick Snow looked at both photos and he thinks it is a hit on the right edge of the top serif. That and a soft strike on the top of the feathers was probably the reason it was graded a 64 and not a 65. If it were a 65, someone else would own it!

[coop]

Rick Snow. Wonder if he is related to Willit? You have to think of that one a bit.

[Robert]

In the Mar 13 issue of Coin World, page 116, they report a "thick S" and "thin S" variety of IHC. Apparently discovered by Julian Leidman and Snow seems to believe it.

It is thought that the thick S to be scare but not rare.

Thin = Snow1
Thick = Snow2

Thick has a wider midesction adn more defined serifs.

[GarryN]

I saw that article. Mine is the Thin S variety. I have not ever noticed a Thick S variety yet. Snow has attached a premium to it.