Bizarre two-headed coins, doubled ear varieties, tripled dies and metal mistakes are a few of the many errors that are known by collectors to exist within the United States Lincoln cent series. Dating back to 1909, the mint hasn’t always been the perfectionists that modern day computers and technology make them today.
Back in the first years of the U.S. Mint the dies used to produce coins were carved by individual craftsmen who would each have their hand on just one die. This created so many varieties in 1794, there are publications that list the known die combinations in a numbered scale, complete with photos to identify large cent examples for just this year.
1909 wasn’t quite that far back in the woods and 1955 was even more recent. Those are both years that saw a high priority major collectible variety, come out as an item that would soon become a buzz with collectors searching the countryside, to acquire their example. Every error coin that is a result of a mint originated mistake, has a premium value over just the face value of the coin.
Some examples have risen to the level of an investment product and there are now people who regularly contribute rare United States Lincoln error coins to their retirement accounts and safety deposit boxes because they know whats going to happen when they all become as rare as the two desirable years I mentioned above.
In 1955, the mint produced a one cent coin for circulation, just as they had done for the previous 43 years. All of a sudden the numismatic community was abuzz about an example of a Lincoln cent that had an extreme case of doubled die showing on the obverse of the coin.
Experts from around the world were immediately avidly seeking any examples that could be found and the major collectible known as the 1955 doubled die was born. A star among error coins and a favorite of every US cent collector, this error is the most well known one within the series and can run into the tens of thousands of dollars in brilliant uncirculated condition.
If we back up to the year 1909, I mentioned there exists a completely different kind of rarity. The 1909-S-VDB Lincoln cent also became an immediate hit with collectors.
The designers initials were on this brand new issue on the reverse, at the bottom center of the coin. Victor David Brenner designed the Lincoln cent and was allowed to leave his mark on the coin.
Not for long. The initials were removed from the issue soon into the year and the result was a special VDB issue for this year from the San Francisco mint mark or S, that became an extremely short run. A rarity was born without any real mistake happening. This first year issue coin is now very hard to find and getting one is always a prize for any enthusiast.
In 1922 another distinct rarity was created when one of the dies for this year was inadvertently over polished, removing the mint mark that shows the Mint where the coin was made. In this case it was a letter D for Denver Colorado. A few coins were actually allowed to get through quality control this way without their aforementioned mint mark and very few can be found today. Caution is recommended when someone tries to sell you one of these. Many fakes exist because it’s pretty easy to file off the D. Microscopic evaluation of the coin should be undertaken to show the file marks.
Denver happened to be the only place the United Cent Lincoln cent was made that year, so that’s how the mistake was noticed. Without that coincidence. The coins would have been assumed to be from the Philadelphia Mint as they used no mint mark to designate this location.
There is also a 1922-weak,D coin that carries a slight premium. This coin would have a strong date and bust but barely visible D. It’s a small consolation coin to the tens of thousands of dollars the right 22 plain could bring, You’ll only get about fifty bucks for the perfect 1922 weak D.
Let’s move forward to some off the newer varieties that are actually available in bank rolls and pocket change. The first one I’ll talk about and a coin that’s gaining in the price indexes pretty fast as of late, would be the 1972 doubled die.
This coin like the 1955 example, will show very strong doubling on all devices on the obverse of the coin. The date and the motto are extremely easy to detect even with the naked eye. This variety has been known to bring $1,000 in perfect condition and you may have one in your pocket.
There is a doubled ear variety from 1984. this coin has a doubled profile and the whole ear can be seen twice on this coin. It can bring a couple of hundred dollars in excellent shape. 1983 saw the flip side of the coin, when the reverse actually became the scene of some intense doubling on the words one cent and the beginning of United, also shows a strong doubled die. This coin will also sell for a couple of hundred dollars, if you have a nice uncirculated coin.
As late as 1995 there are doubled die coins and many other error varieties. Collectors just can’t seem to stay away from mistake, or error coins. The 1917 had a doubled die, there was one in 1936, I think it would be safe to say that every year the Lincoln cents have been minted up until 1998, when the presses were exchanged for machinery that no longer stamped the coins, but squeezes the design into the planchet or blank.
It was the end of the errors for the United States Mint in this series. Fortunately there is no shortage of holes to fill in a variety set of Lincoln error coins. You can build a set with any type of parameters you can imagine. Make your own rules for filling it and have fun. You’ll be investing in a solid commodity with a high demand and a limited and diminishing supply.According to very famous man called Mark Twain, that’s the perfect storm for an investment that can’t lose.
One final United States Lincoln Cent error coin I’m going to mention, is one you can only dream of finding. The 1943 copper cent. This one is holding with a population of around twelve known. It came about during world war two. The United States was making guns and ammunition at a frenzy to supply our troops with the defenses they needed to win a world war.
It soon became obvious that every ton of available copper was going to be needed for the task at hand. The minting of copper cents was immediately halted and every single available copper planchet that was about to be made into cents was shipped to the factories and made into shell casings.
All of them except the ones that inadvertently became lodged in the hoppers when they were emptied and this handful went into production lines as an error, when the coins were supposed to now be made from steel slugs.
The 1943 cents that have been found to date are coveted by the collectors who own them. There’s one very nice one at the Smithsonian institute. The one you’ll find if your the luckiest collector in the world, could easily make you the numismatic worlds newest millionaire.
In the end what this article, Collecting Modern United States Lincoln Cent Error Coins For Fun And Profit is trying to do, is announce to the world how savvy of an investment this can be. Getting your hands on the major varieties isn’t easy. You’ll be searching hard and paying a pretty penny to acquire them.
