Coin Curiosity

Varieties of the San Francisco mintmark on Australian silver coins

In 1942 the Melbourne Mint prepared for silver coins to be struck in the United States of America. Punches were sent to the Philadelphia Mint in 1942 (p44, Briggs, World War II Numismatics Silver Coins in Australasian Coin and Banknote Magazine, July 2022). It is believed that the Philadelphia Mint prepared dies for the Denver Mint and San Francisco Mint (p33, Effendi & Lever, Serifs, Blips and Blobs Varieties of the "S" mintmark on our Silver coins in Australasian Coin and Banknote Magazine, April 2018). The Denver-struck coins all have an identical D mintmark, but San Francisco-struck coins were struck using four different S mintmarks which are well documented in American numismatic literature: trumpet (MMS-004), straight (MMS-005), ball (MMS-006) and sans (MMS-007).

The trumpet S mintmark has pointed, inward-facing serifs; the straight S mintmark has point, inward and outward-facing serifs; the ball S mintmark has rounded inward-facing serifs and the sans S mintmark has no serifs. Not all mintmarks were used in all years, though the S mintmarks used on Australian silver coins cover all of the different styles used by the San Francisco mint from 1942 to 1944.