1971-S Repunched Mintmark RPM-003

Description

Cataloged by VarietyVista as UVC-561 with die marriage reference DMR-006, the 1971-S Repunched Mintmark RPM-003 is a proof Roosevelt Dime displaying an S/S East repunched mintmark — where the initial S mintmark was positioned slightly west of its intended location, and the corrective second punch placed the final S eastward, leaving remnants of the first impression visible to the west of the primary letter. The die state documentation lists Stage A with both obverse and reverse in early die state, Stage B as mid-die-state (unconfirmed), and Stage C as late die state (unconfirmed). The eastward directional shift distinguishes this RPM-003 from the tilted RPM-004 and the other directional varieties cataloged for the 1971-S proof dime, as each variety documents a geometrically distinct mintmark application error. Proof Roosevelt Dimes from the early 1970s were produced exclusively at the San Francisco Mint using the specialized proof manufacturing process of polished planchets, polished dies, and multiple strikes per coin, yielding mirror fields that provide an excellent viewing surface for subtle mintmark displacement features. John R. Sinnock designed the Roosevelt Dime in 1946 as a memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. By 1971, the proof dime was struck in clad composition (91.67% copper, 8.33% nickel outer layers bonded to pure copper) weighing 2.27 grams with a 17.9 mm diameter. The 1971 proof set mintage of approximately 3.22 million establishes the maximum population of potential RPM-003 specimens, though only a fraction of these would have been struck from this specific repunched die before it was retired or replaced.

Die Markers

• UVC-561
• DMR-006
• Stage A:
• Obverse and Reverse are EDS
• Stage B:
• MDS (unconfirmed)
• Stage C:
• LDS (unconfirmed)

Attribution History

• Discovered by Paul Funaiole
• Expert attribution by VarietyVista

External References