Week # 146 - What happened to the "P"?

[Danielle C.]

QUESTION:

 

Why was a 'P' mintmark not added to the cent in 1980, when all the other denominations received it?

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[proofbarber-migration]

In November of 1974, cents began being produced at the West Point Depository as well as the Philadelphia mint. To avoid coin hoarding by adding a "W" to all West Point cents and a "P" to Philadelphia cents, and under the guises that the West Point Depository is only a subsidiary of the Philadelphia mint, cents minted at either location will have no mintmark.

[Conder101]

Two reasons, one tradition and two because of the huge number of dies that would have to be hand marked which was the way it was done at the time.

 

I'm sure they wished they didn't have to mark the Denver dies.

[Danielle C.]

QUESTION:

 

Why was a 'P' mintmark not added to the cent in 1980, when all the other denominations received it?

 

ANSWER:

 

West Point and San Francisco were still coining cents without mintmarks, and these would have stood out as rarities.

 

 

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