1964 SMS Lincoln Cent

dan1ecu

Have you seen the MS68 1964 SMS Lincoln Cent at Heritage?

1964 SMS 1C

According to the description, this was a prototype for the SMS sets that were issued starting in 1965.

I would think of this coin as being like a pattern. As such, I wonder if it's worth what they're asking. Any comments?

Dan

Steve

Obviously, the market says it is not worth the $40k they are asking. No doubt it is a very rare coin. It probably stacks up with the 1943 copper and the 1944 steel cents as far as available quantities. I'd say if you are a Lincoln cent collector who wants them all, AND YOU CAN AFFORD IT, why not add this coin to your collection. I guess the real answer why someone who CAN afford this coin, but doesn't want to add it is that they are looking at its investment value and realizing that they may not get their money back when they sell. This IMHO is the "gut check" between a collector and an investor. Steve

LanLord

How were these things released by the mint?

Were they marked as 65 SMS sets and came with 64 dates? Were they marked as 64 mint sets but looked better than mint sets but not good enough to be PROOF sets?

What's the story here?

Russ

It didn't sell because it's not required in a registry set.

Russ, NCNE

shylock

Here's a pic of the other MS68 (at least it doesn't look like the same one to me).

Mark

LanLord:

Here is a link from a May 2004 thread sometime ago about the 1964 SMS set. In a July 2003 thread about this question, dhealth said "TomB says the story as related to him was that they were given to a celebrity collector by the mint director. They are specimen strikes, and I believe are the trial finish for the 65 SMS coin. The half has a much different surface than either the 64 MS or PR coins. These sets surface from time to time, and CK has hinted he thinks many coins produced by the mint for experimental purposes bore the 1964 date. Rumor has it the sets number from 10 to 20." This statement agrees with what I have heard. In the May 2004 thread, Stewart Blay said "There are at least 20 sms sets that were sold through Stacks when they sold the Lester Merkin estate.they were NEVER officially released" This, too, agrees with what I have heard.

Mark