1942-S Repunched Mintmark RPM-009

Description

Documented by VarietyVista with die stage tracking under UVC-130 and DMR-011, this 1942-S Lincoln Wheat Cent displays an S/S Southeast repunched mintmark — a variety created when the San Francisco mint's engraver punched the S mintmark into the working die at a position slightly northwest of the intended location, then corrected with a second punch that left the remnant of the original impression visible to the southeast of the final S placement. Three die stages are documented: Stage A is early die state (EDS, unconfirmed); Stage B is mid-die-state showing a die clash at the throat area and the reverse in MDS — the clash mark at Lincoln's throat indicating the obverse and reverse dies struck each other without a planchet during this stage of the die's service life; and Stage C is late die state (LDS, unconfirmed). The 1942-S Lincoln Wheat Cent was struck at the San Francisco Mint in the standard bronze composition of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, weighing 3.11 grams with a diameter of 19.05 mm. Victor David Brenner designed the obverse portrait of Abraham Lincoln, while the wheat ears reverse served from 1909 through 1958. The 1942 date is particularly significant for collectors because it precedes the dramatic 1943 wartime steel cent composition change, making 1942 the final year of pre-war bronze production. Repunched mintmark varieties from this era document the entirely manual process of mintmark application, where individual steel letter punches were hammered by hand into each working die — a process vulnerable to positional errors that produced the diagnostic doubled mintmark impressions valued by variety specialists today.

Die Markers

• UVC-130
• DMR-011
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Die clash at throat – MDS
• Reverse is MDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Harry Ellis
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References