Why are people so interested in the 1955 "poor man's ddo" penny?

wrthtuppence

There's almost always someone selling machine doubled 1955 pennies on ebay, etc. and they never fail to garner interest from buyers. I see them going for like $30-40 in meh condition and it's baffling to me. Why are people so interested in this common error? Is it just because of the conceptual proximity of the famous 1955 actual ddo or am I missing something about the nature of the machine doubled counterparts?

Kliao

The ones your seeing on eBay are not the DDO but just MD. The true DDO should look like this:

While ones like the one in this eBay listing is just MD or the last number having a ghosting effect.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-AU-DOUBLE-DIE-LINCOLN-WHEAT-CENT-FROM-PENNY-COLLECTION-55-POOR-MANS-DDO/184635497417?hash=item2afd221bc9:g:KfwAAOSwT7Jfowil

Oldhoopster

For decades, the poor man’s DD has been hyped as an alternative to the 55DDO. I remember seeing ads for them as a kid in the 70s and wishing I had $1.25 to buy it. When the 55DDO was released, there wasn’t a lot of information available on the minting process, and what was out there was hard to find. So, when people saw coins with Die Deterioration Doubling on the date, they thought it could be a minor form of the 55DDO. Get the hype machine going and over time, it gets accepted into the hobby. Don't forget, collecting was really taking off in the late 50s and 60s with the "roll craze" and other things, so it was easy to generate the selling hype

I think you’re seeing something similar with the “In God We _Rust” Kansas Quarters. It’s nothing more than a minor filled die, but people are buying them on ebay because they’ve read about it and think it may be special.
That’s my take on it. Maybe some older collectors can make additions/corrections

JBK

As implied above, I always understood the Poor Mans DD to be die deterioration and not MD.

I recall finding them occasionally when I was younger. I also recall the hype marketing.

wrthtuppence

I see. That makes more sense of it @Oldhoopster. I guess I'm just late on the scene and now, with the internet, the true nature of new errors, die varieties, and otherwise is reported much more quickly and publicly.

wrthtuppence

Been seeing a lot of "1988 wide AMs" too. I take it those people are just confused?

Jimnight

I was not aware it was a interesting coin.

rec78

Maybe they can't afford a real 1955 DDO cent.

@wrthtuppence said:
Been seeing a lot of "1988 wide AMs" too. I take it those people are just confused?

Either they are confused, or they just want to sell a face value coin for a profit.

Zoee

Well from a beginners perspective. All errors get me happy. But then there's those rare dates that make my toes tingle. Like the 1955.
Now as for the 1988 wide. When I saw it was collectable I was confused I have only been doing this coin/ roll collecting for two years now. I had memorized all the wide/close AM. But its been plainly obvious that the majority of the coin community doesn't really like its presence with the others. Me I love all errors. And machine doubling/die determination. I see that and yes it gets excited cause I have only seen real.ddo/ddr a few times. Just l
Thought I could help with a beginners mind insight.☺

Mr_Spud

Some people like to use them to fill the double die slot in an album. Like if you buy a slabbed one that is the real double die, but you put the poor man one in your Dansco album just to fill the hole

mannie gray

Kudos (maybe????) to the dealer who came up with the catchy name to make a few bucks.
I've had good luck selling them but I never misrepresent what I am selling.