Possible 'error' Barber???

[jas415]

I got this about a week ago on a parking lot demo in north Houston. Filled with iron trash, rust, lead plumbing pieces, tin, etc.. Four of us there for almost 2 hours and only 4 coins, 1916 S Merc, 2 'teens wheats, and the 1909 S Barber. It was about 3" deep, surrounded by nails and other metal. I just happened to hit it at the right angle I suppose.

I see the S as leaning to the right and something odd about the ONE DIME also, like is it wobbly and not aligned correctly. Anyway, several 09 S halves with an 'inverted S' on them are on the net. Not any real value I suppose but I thought it was an unusual coin.

The last pic is one with the straight 'one dime' and 'S'.

 

[BigTony]

n/t

 

[jas415]

Got some responses from real coin collector types and they say the tilted S, or for that matter any mint mark. is rather common on all older coins. Some say the mint mark was 'hand applied', but that is rather hard to comprehend. That would take a lot of time and labor. I visualize some person hitting on a coin with a hammer. Maybe they meant the 'die' had the mint mark hand applied, then the die was used until it broke.

 

[mcb613]

If you look at the rotation position of the outside letters in reference to the wreaths, both coins are in the same position. I do agree about the S rotation. Maybe just an optical illusion?