1943-S Repunched Mintmark RPM-015

Description

Documented by VarietyVista with the comment S/S West, the 1943-S Jefferson Nickel RPM-015 is a repunched mintmark variety on the Wartime Silver Alloy issue from the San Francisco Mint, cataloged as UVC-500 with die marker record DMR-023. The S/S West designation indicates the initial S mintmark was placed too far east, with the corrective second punch repositioning the final S westward, leaving a remnant of the first impression visible to the east of the primary letter. Die stage progression documents three states: Stage A at early die state (unconfirmed), Stage B with both reverse and obverse at mid-die-state (MDS), and Stage C at late die state (unconfirmed), with Stage B being confirmed. The 1943-S wartime Jefferson Nickel was struck at the San Francisco Mint during the peak of World War II in the emergency composition of 56% copper, 35% silver, and 9% manganese, adopted to preserve strategic nickel for military applications including armor plating and ordnance components. Felix Schlag’s design features Jefferson’s portrait and Monticello, with the large S positioned above Monticello and each coin weighing 5.00 grams at 21.2 mm diameter. The San Francisco Mint’s wartime production required die sinkers to hand-punch the large S mintmark above Monticello — a position that was new for the denomination and lacked the decades of practice that had developed for the traditional small mintmark placement near the date. The westward correction pattern mirrors the same directional tendency seen on Denver Mint D/D West varieties from the same period, suggesting that initial eastward drift of the mintmark punch may have been a common ergonomic tendency across both facilities when applying the large wartime mintmark above the Monticello dome. Confirmed MDS specimens offer moderate repunching visibility.

Die Markers

• UVC-500
• DMR-023
• Stage A:
• EDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage B:
• Reverse and Obverse are MDS
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Paul Funaiole
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References