Low-energy quadrupole-collective excitations of isovector character, the so-called states with proton-neutron mixed-symmetric character (MSS), have been investigated in 204Hg which is the sole stable nucleus in the straight vicinity of 208Pb exhibiting a 2π - 2ν structure. A 12C(204Hg,204Hg∗)12C projectile Coulomb-excitation experiment at 890MeV was performed at Argonne National Laboratory using the ATLAS accelerator. γ-rays originating from the decay of the excited states of 204Hg were detected using the GAMMASPHERE spectrometer. The measured Coulomb-excitation yields provide the B(M1) and the B(E2) strength distributions which unambiguously reveal the 23 + state at 1948 keV as the one-phonon MSS of 204Hg
