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Old August 21st 04, 07:34 PM
Phil Barnhart
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In (a weak) defense of Red Book, the Type 2 mint marks actually appear
on ALL proof coins of 79 and 81. Given the lack of SBA strike
rareties, the T2 mint mark seems to be collectible in SBAs. They are
rarer in SBAs than in the other proofs - but in fact what the red book
is illustrating the the "appearance" of the mint mark itself - wich
since it came from the same punch will be identical on all coins -
cents, nickels, quarters, halves, and SBAs.

In fact, if you are looking at raw proof sets for SBAs at a coin show
and scanning rapidly through a few sets, the easiest way to check
these sets is to compare the SBA mint mark to the the other coins in
the set. Most of the time, one of the other coins will have a T2 mark
as well - or the SBA mark will look different than all the rest.

In 1997, I went on a T2 kick so to speak, and probably looked at close
to 300 79 and 81 sets at about 10 shows. I found 9 SBA T2 sets - and
one was ENTIRELY T2 on all coins. Looking at SBAs by themselves it
can be difficult - but use the other coins in the set as reference.
BTW, I've never heard of a set that actually had the SBA as the only
T2 in the set - there was almost always one other in the set.



Tom Kindschi wrote in message . ..
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 20:42:47 -0700, "M. Scott Reynolds"
wrote:

On page 199 of the 58th "Official Red Book", it has 3 pictures showing
the date of the 1979 S Type I, 1979 S Type II, and 1981 S Type II, and
the difference between the S mint mark. What is odd is that I've never
seen an SBA dollar with the date in the position in these pictures. The
pictures show the date off to the lower right above the shoulder with
the S mint mark right below the date, instead of the date at the bottom
right above the rim, and the mint mark above the left shoulder, like all
SBAs I've seen. Is there a version of the SBA that fits this
description? Or are they using pictures of another coin to show their
point, and if so, what coin is it (The only 1979 coins I've seen with
the date in that position is the Lincoln cent, but it's the wrong color!).

Anyone know what's going on here?

Scott R.


Good catch! I picked up a copy of the "Red Book" for the first time
in about 7 years since I saw it advertised somewhere as a "major
update". (It ain't. A few improved pictures, but my 1998 is still
good enough for me).

Anyway, I read through it, comparing it to 1998, and missed that
completely.

It sure looks like a Lincoln cent picture, (except for the color),
since you can see the slope of Abe's jacket to the left just as you
would expect for a cent. It appears they took some Lincoln pictures
and fiddled with the color! Odd.

Tom

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