Very basic question, so don't laugh. Will there be a mint mark 'P' on a Qashginton quarter if it was minted in Philly or will it be without a mintmark. the reason I ask is that I have a 1983 washington that has some kind of 'blob where the mintmark is, that kind of looks like a 'P'. However, numismedia just lists a 1983 and a 1983 D, so to me that means that there shouldn't be a 'P' on the coin if minted in Philly. I also am seeing Roosevelt dimes with 'P' mint marks, but again numismedia only reflects dates without a mint mark and the 'D' mint mark.
Lincoln cents - no P mint marks Jefferson nickles - P mint marks 1942-45 silver, 1980-present Roosevelt dimes - P mint marks 1980-present Washington quarters P mint marks 1980-present Kennedy halves P mint marks 1980-present SBA dollars always P mint marks Sackies always P mint marks Now "Qashginton quarters" - I dunno.
The P mint mark was added to the dollar in 1979 and to the other coins (except the cent) in 1980. It is traditional to not list the P mint mark in many cases.
Thats, 49 Million Nickels made in Philadelphia with no mint mark and 57 million silver Philadelphia nickels with a large P mint mark above the Montichello. Just clearifying.
The P's are 40% silver and have a melt value the others don't. In the middle of 1942 the mint changed the alloy that nickels were made of to help the war effort. This continued thru the war years. The red book lists...42-EF 40 cents, 42P EF $2.00
hahahahahahahah Just kidding. It might be wise to familiarize yourself with these, since over the years there has been a time or two when the mintmarks were left off when they should have been there. Those are highly colelcvtbale (and worth $$$$). I am not sure which years off hand, but they are floating around out there and many don't get caught since some coins have MMs and others don't and most people don't now which ones are supposed to have them.
The reason that pennies don't have a "P" mint mark is that there is a mint of sorts at the West Point, NY assay office and they make a few million a year there. These don't have mint marks either, and thus it's a sneaky way of preventing collecting. people now just throw them away....
Mint marks on the quarters were terrible in '80-'83. If it's a blob it's Denver and if it's a lopsided blob it's Philly. The Phillys are skinnier too.
Part of the problem is they way the reference books have listed the Philadelphia coins over the years. Back before 1979 when they had no mintmarks standard procedure was to list the philadelphia coins with just the date. After 1979 it becomes confusing because some refernece will now list the Philadelphia coins as P even if they don't have a mintmark, some continued with the old format and don't list the mintmark even though they do have it and some use a mixed format with just the date for those that have no mintmark and with a P for those that do. It's all a matter of what the publisher of the reference decides. (And sometimes they are not consistant listing some issues one way and some another.) So you have to check the reference carefully to see what format they are using. West Point DID make cents without a mintmark (as did San Francisco) but they have not made any cents since 1986. West point now just strikes all the precious metal coinage except S mint coins for the silver proof set.
