1948 (S) Lincoln Wheat Cent - Repunched Mintmark WRPM-034

Description

Thirty-fourth documented repunched mintmark for the 1948-S Lincoln Wheat Cent in the Wexler attribution system, this variety exemplifies the prolific RPM production that occurred during the hand-punching era of United States coinage. With thirty-four distinct RPM varieties from a single date and mint, the 1948-S stands as one of the most thoroughly researched dates for mintmark positioning errors on Lincoln Cents. Each working die prepared for San Francisco Mint cent production required a separate hand-punching operation to add the S mintmark, and the natural variability of this manual process ensured that no two dies received exactly the same mintmark placement. The WRPM-034 designation places this variety deep in the catalog sequence, discovered after decades of collector examination had already documented thirty-three prior RPMs. Later-sequence discoveries are often more subtle than the bold, obvious repunching found in early catalog entries, requiring experienced attributors with quality magnification to detect the secondary mintmark impression. The 1948-S's mintage of 81,735,000 cents means that the total production was distributed across a large number of die pairs, each carrying its own unique mintmark punching history. RPM varieties from the late 1940s Wheat Cent series occupy an important position in the broader study of die variety numismatics because they document a production technique — hand mintmark punching — that has been obsolete for over sixty years. The Wexler Team maintains comprehensive documentation for each RPM, including directional notation, photographic evidence, and die marker descriptions that enable accurate attribution by collectors.

Cross References

• Wexler Variety ID: 1948-S 1¢ WRPM-034

External References