Today I was lucky enough to purchase a quantity of old East African coins from the first three decades of the 20th century.
Among them is a 1914 1 Cent coin. According to my Krauze 1901-2000 (7th ed.), this coin comes with "H" and "S" mint marks. Mine, however, does not seem to have any mintmark at all. I have examined the coin very carefully under several different magnifications and cannot find a mark in the usual location below the denomination on the obverse, or anywhere else. I also have several "H" mintmark coins from other years for comparison, as well as a 1913 coin with no mintmark, as expected. I'm wondering about the following things:
1. Does anyone have a "S" mintmark coin, and could they confirm the position of the mintmark?
2. Does anyone know where the "S" coins were minted?
3. Does anyone else have, or know about, a markless 1914 cent?
4. Does anything have any thoughts about explaining this discrepancy, or what to do next?
I'm not used to this sort of uncharted territory. Any help would be appreciated a great deal!
Indeed, but then it is also missing from Krause and NGC.
Before jumping to a conclusion I'd like to find an actual "S" coin to ensure that they actually exist. I suspect that the "S" coins actually have no mintmark, but were minted in some location starting with an "S".
There is no S mintmark on East African coins.
In earlier editions of Krause there is a 1 cent 1914 without mintmark in stead of 1914 S (and with the same mintage).
I don't have a digital copy of earlier editions to show you a picture of all the years and mintages, but if you like I can make a scan of that page from my last edition before Krause was splitting the SCWC into centuries (2006, 33rd edition).
That is a very kind offer, but not necessary. I'm absolutely happy to accept your word on the matter. I've classified by coin under the "S" heading in Numista. I think that is where it should be. The change in Krause has obvious propagated through NGC and Numista too.