1941-D Repunched Mintmark WRPM-012

Description

Twelfth repunched mintmark cataloged for the 1941 Denver Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, WRPM-012 preserves evidence of the hand-punching process used to add mintmarks to working dies before the Mint adopted hubbed mintmarks in 1990. A skilled engraver would position a steel punch bearing the D mintmark against the die face and strike it with a hammer, and if the initial placement was deemed imprecise, the mintmark was punched again in an adjusted position — leaving the ghost of the original impression visible beneath the final placement. An important attribution note distinguishes this variety: the primary mint mark on WRPM-012 sits further west than on WRPM-013, providing a positional reference that helps collectors differentiate between these two sequential catalog entries when the mintmark repunching characteristics might otherwise appear similar. The 1941-D date falls in the final year of peacetime production before Pearl Harbor, when Denver was operating at significant capacity to meet circulation demand. Twelve RPMs for a single pre-war date demonstrates how frequently mintmark repositioning occurred during the hand-punching era. Attributed by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID: 1941-D 1¢ WRPM-012, no additional cross-references are currently known for this variety beyond the Wexler system designation.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John Bordner Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1941-D 1¢ WRPM-012
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References