Why is the 1958 DDO included in the set registry?

JeremyBolt

Apparently there are only (3) 1958 DDO but this coin is still included in the Lincoln Cent Variety Set. Why would PCGS include a coin that is extremely scarce? From my understanding, is that this coin was a counterfeit to begin with? What are your thoughts on this!!!

IkesT

@JeremyBolt said:
Apparently there are only (3) 1958 DDO but this coin is still included in the Lincoln Cent Variety Set. Why would PCGS include a coin that is extremely scarce? From my understanding, is that this coin was a counterfeit to begin with? What are your thoughts on this!!!!

Your understanding is not correct; the coin is genuine.

Circumstantial evidence indicates that the 3 surviving examples of the 1958 DDO were smuggled out of the Mint by an employee; in that context, this variety would probably be more at home in a set such as "100 Greatest US Coins" than in the Lincoln Cent Variety Set.

oldsmagnet

I suppose it depends on the true ungraded population of the coin (I'm not familiar with the details of this one) -- If there's any reasonable belief that others could eventually turn up, then there's probably good cause to have it in a variety set. However, there is precedence in the registry reversing some slots, that super-rare one-of-one Ike that turned up a year or so ago, was 'required' in one of the variety sets - Registry staff agreed that nobody else would be able to add that coin, so the "required" slot was removed, but some provisions were kept in place to make it optional, so the owner could get some credit for holding it. -- Since I'm not 'that owner' -- I have no clue what those provisions actually amount to (and as I recall, that owner has his sets set to private) so there's still a few unknowns for how that all works behind-the-scenes, but long story short, they did remove that coin from the "required" category. Perhaps there's a similar case that could be made here, providing anyone from the registry actually sees the inquiry

JeremyBolt

If a coin had to be smuggled out of the mint then it wasn’t made by mistake and I knowingly made its way into circulation. It shouldn’t be included with the Major Variety Lincoln Set.

hummingbird_coins

@JeremyBolt said:
If a coin had to be smuggled out of the mint then it wasn’t made by mistake and I knowingly made its way into circulation. It shouldn’t be included with the Major Variety Lincoln Set.

Just because a coin had to be smuggled out of the mint doesn't mean it was made like that on purpose. The most likely scenario is that the doubled die was accidental but caught early enough for the Mint to destroy all coins except for the three that were smuggled.