1964-d 25c question

[rexmerdinus]

OK, all you cherry-pickers and variety experts...The following are pictures of two different 1964-D Washington Quarters. Notice the mint-marks look different and are in two slightly different positions. My question is, is that a normal variation, or do I have two distinct varieties? Thanks!

close-up 1.jpg (16.9 KiB) Viewed 1592 times

close-up 2.jpg (20.66 KiB) Viewed 1592 times

[coindood]

They look like the same style D, except the bottom one is probably a later die state (seen a lot of action) whereas the top one looks sharper.

As far as positioning, weren't mintmarks still handpunched into the dies in the 60s?

[rexmerdinus]

I was thinking in addition to looking sharper, the "lines" of the first D look thinner, like the "hole" is a lot bigger and better defined than in the second one. I don't know about the hand punched mintmarks.

[Know Common Cents]

Look at the vertical line for the D mintmark. To me, it appears the vertical line of the mintmark falls equally between the letters ER (in QUARTER, of course) in both pictures.

I agree with the comments about the second D looking weaker and likely a reverse die that's seen more wear than the first one. Your 2 pix are close to being the same position, but my aging eyes see only a slight deviation in the positioning between both. Likely within the mints tolerance standards from 50 years ago.

Keep looking for varieties. Not only will you be rewarded with your finds, but it's also a great way to educate yourself about coins.

[rexmerdinus]

Yeas, actually I researched Coindood's comment, and apparently mint marks WERE in fact hand punched into dies still in that era, and well into the 1980's. Thanks for the input!

[beauanderos]

First image looks like a Guangdong... or Guanxi fabrication.
Second image is definitely Sichuan, although it could be the Qinghai variant.

Does anyone have a full set of all the provinces yet?

[daviscfad]

Mintmarks were puched by hand, so its no surprise to see them all over the place..

[daviscfad]

Show us the wole reverse though.. one maybe a type c

[coindood]

Yeas, actually I researched Coindood's comment, and apparently mint marks WERE in fact hand punched into dies still in that era, and well into the 1980's. Thanks for the input!

"Even a clock that doesn't run is correct twice a day"