Were 1955 DDO Lincoln cents unknowingly given away in packs of cigs as a promotion?

fivecents

Is this story true or false.

I have heard that back in 1955 a cigarette company had put two free Lincoln cents in packs of cigarettes as a promotion. The two cents were to be used to purchase a pack of matches to light the cigarettes with. A large number of these cents were the scarce 1955 DDO. Also all of the packs of cigarettes used in this promotion were in cigarette vending machines.

kranky

My understanding is that the two cents wasn't a promotion, it was the change for the purchase from a vending machine. You'd put in a quarter to get a 23 cent pack of smokes and the two cents in change were taped to the pack. And many of the 1955/55 DDOs were found that way.

19Lyds

From: Linky



<< <i> The 1955 Doubled Die Cents are the best known error coins of my youth. Most of them showed up as change attached to packages of cigarettes which cost twenty-three cents. The vending machine people decided to put two one cent coins into the cellophane wrapping around the cigarette pack so that a quarter would be all that was needed to operate the cigarette vending machines most frequently located in bars and stores.

One young man, of whom I knew, caught onto this fact and went from bar to bar in his city buying out all the cigarette machines to get the one cent doubled die coins. He then resold the cigarettes at twenty cents a pack! He found enough doubled die 1955 cents to buy a new car for cash. Today a brown M.S. 63 1955 doubled die cent fetches about fifteen or sixteen hundred dollars.

The story isn’t quite finished yet. When that young fellow got all that lovely cash for his 1955 doubled die cents and bought his sparkling new Chevrolet, he drove it home with pride. His father was a policeman who had come to this country as a child from Europe and was proud to be an honest and upright American. When he saw his teenage son’s new car bought for cash, he went nuts. He proceeded to beat the hell out of him, because he thought his son was selling drugs! >>



I have heard this story before but I just can't remember the source.

michael

well after the fact


kranky
Master Collector

Posts: 7668
Joined: Feb 2001
Saturday September 10, 2005 9:00 AM (NEW!)



My understanding is that the two cents wasn't a promotion, it was the change for the purchase from a vending machine. You'd put in a quarter to get a 23 cent pack of smokes and the two cents in change were taped to the pack. And many of the 1955/55 DDOs were found that way.



kranky is totally correct!! he usually is with his posts and threads here!!

thanks kranky!!

cigs sold in vending machines for 25 cents

and they where 23 cents so two cents change and aint it the damnest thing most of the two cent coins where the 55 ddo cents as they most of the 55 ddo cents got shipped to that part of boston me thinks well someone figured this out so i am sure some enterprenier went around and bought lots of cig packs out of the vending machines in the local bars and got a high percentage of 55 ddo cents and then sold them for a profit

just like the angry cut and paste posters to my comments are the promoters/slabbers/sender inners of these large submissions of raw post 1990 modern coins then they send in lots to get slabbed some get slabbed high ga-ga grades and sell them for $$$$$$$ dollars LOL on these boards to lucky buyers LOL

but the 55 ddo where better deals to buy from the guy that got them off of the cig packages even if they had tape residue on them




just like the angry cut and paste posters to my comments are the promoters/slabbers/sender inners of these large submissions of raw post 1990 modern coins then they send in lots to get slabbed some get slabbed high ga-ga grades and sell them for $$$$$$$ dollars LOL on these boards to lucky buyers LOL

man they get mad when they read these words LOL and really cut and paste me to death and take many statements out of context to convince themselves and their minion buyers of these truths

and man it hurts

cladking

<< <i>well after the fact


kranky
Master Collector

Posts: 7668
Joined: Feb 2001
Saturday September 10, 2005 9:00 AM (NEW!)



My understanding is that the two cents wasn't a promotion, it was the change for the purchase from a vending machine. You'd put in a quarter to get a 23 cent pack of smokes and the two cents in change were taped to the pack. And many of the 1955/55 DDOs were found that way.



kranky is totally correct!! he usually is with his posts and threads here!!

thanks kranky!!

cigs sold in vending machines for 25 cents

and they where 23 cents so two cents change and aint it the damnest thing most of the two cent coins where the 55 ddo cents as they most of the 55 ddo cents got shipped to that part of boston me thinks well someone figured this out so i am sure some enterprenier went around and bought lots of cig packs out of the vending machines in the local bars and got a high percentage of 55 ddo cents and then sold them for a profit

just like the angry cut and paste posters to my comments are the promoters/slabbers/sender inners of these large submissions of raw post 1990 modern coins then they send in lots to get slabbed some get slabbed high ga-ga grades and sell them for $$$$$$$ dollars LOL on these boards to lucky buyers LOL

but the 55 ddo where better deals to buy from the guy that got them off of the cig packages even if they had tape residue on them




just like the angry cut and paste posters to my comments are the promoters/slabbers/sender inners of these large submissions of raw post 1990 modern coins then they send in lots to get slabbed some get slabbed high ga-ga grades and sell them for $$$$$$$ dollars LOL on these boards to lucky buyers LOL

man they get mad when they read these words LOL and really cut and paste me to death and take many statements out of context to convince themselves and their minion buyers of these truths

and man it hurts >>




Don't feed the troll.

cladking

I believe the smokes were a 8c and the pennies were change for a dime.

There was at least one bag of brand new cents which was used by the seller to add
to the packets. Not all of these were the DDO of course so most people who got any,
got only a single DDO. There were reports of a few people getting two.

Conder101

<< <i>me thinks well someone figured this out so i am sure some enterprenier went around and bought lots of cig packs out of the vending machines in the local bars and got a high percentage of 55 ddo cents and then sold them for a profit >>


Possible but not very likely. When the 55 DDO was first discovered it was just a curiosity. Most dealers would not buy them and even QD Bowers who did only paid up to 25 cents for them at the time (And eventually he stopped buying them because he thought he was getting too many of them). Hardly a return that would justify the risk of a large amount of capital to buy all those cigarettes.

Cladking, I've been reading this same story since I started in the early 70's and it has always been 23 cent a pack cigarettes. Even QDB relates the same price rate.