1936-D Repunched Mintmark WRPM-010

Description

Among the ten documented repunched mintmark varieties for the 1936-D Mercury Dime, WRPM-010 shows the D mintmark punched over a previous D with a southeast offset — a D/D Southeast configuration. Denver produced 16.1 million dimes in 1936, a healthy mintage that provided ample opportunity for mintmark punching errors during die preparation. In this era, each working die received its mintmark individually through hand-punching: a small steel letter punch was positioned over the die and struck with a mallet, and any misalignment on the first blow necessitated a corrective second impression. The southeast offset means the initial D was placed slightly northwest of the intended position before the final, correctly placed blow drove the mintmark to its proper location. No significant obverse die markers have been recorded, but the reverse carries a diagnostic die scratch running northward from the top left of the I in AMERICA — a feature that helps confirm this specific die rather than one of the other nine documented RPM varieties for the date. Attributed by the Wexler Team under Wexler Variety ID 1936-D 10c WRPM-010, this variety has no known cross-references. Adolph Weinman's Winged Liberty Head design, commonly called the Mercury Dime, ran from 1916 through 1945, and its relatively small mintmark placement on the reverse makes repunching both common and sometimes difficult to detect without proper magnification.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John S. Gillilan Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1936-D 10¢ WRPM-010
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References