The Lincoln Memorial Cent, 1959-2008.

Overdate

A bit of coin history is being made today as the Lincoln Memorial Cent apparently concludes its 50-year run. Four new reverses are coming in 2009, and according to what I’ve read there will be a new “permanent” reverse in 2010.

I believe that the Lincoln cent with Memorial reverse has to be the highest total mintage by far for a single design, somewhere north of 250 billion according to my rough calculations.

Thanks to the proofs, there are several “semi-key” date/mintmark combinations with under 3 million mintage, but no keys as far as I can tell. When the totals for the regular, silver and Legacy proof sets are all tallied up, I think there is some chance of this year’s 2008-S proof becoming the lowest date/mintmark combination of the entire Lincoln Memorial set.

Will completion of the series spark increased collector interest? Any opinions?

clw54

It would be a good set for kids to put together. The later dates can be found in rolls, and the earlier dates are inexpensive. I collected wheat cents as a kid, but couldn't possibly put an entire set together because of the keys. Not until later, anyway.

LanLord

Lincoln Memorial Cent = RIP

rgCoinGuy

Very well could be, it is hard to tell what the future will hold. Cents will probably always be a collector favorite, especially for the new and young collectors. JMO of course.

ambro51

Why is the Lincoln Memorial cent like Rodney Dangerfield?


































(you already know the answer)

ambro51

What I find interesting is a paradox regarding collecting circulating cents.

Back in the sixties....you could find those 40 and 50 year old coins, well worn thin ~OLD~ coins which you had to struggle to see if it was a 1914 or a 1919. Poor, AG and Good coins made up most of the real old timers.

Now....if you roll search, the situation is that it is not unusual to find a 30 or 40 year old coin...in nearly full RED.

Interesting, and I only wish the same thing happened back when I was a kid...Id love to have found MS twenties coins!

CoinJunkie

Yes, I think any series that ends sparks collector interest. Of course, when they finally discontinue
the cent altogether, that should probably have an even greater effect on collecting.

cladking

Hmmm.

I never thought of this before but the memorials were actually made
for a longer period of time than the wheaties since the indian cents
were still being made early in 1909.



They're not making 'em any longer either.

cladking

The mint spends the last working days of the year swapping out dies.

Maybe they'll overlook one and make a mule or two.

IrishMike

DBSTrader2

Coinjunkie posted: "..... I think any series that ends sparks collector interest. Of course, when they finally discontinue the cent altogether, that should probably have an even greater effect on collecting."

Now that enough time has passed since countries like Canada have discontinued minting cents, have any studies been done which either confirm or dispute the notion that "absence makes the heart grow fonder", and its impact on collecting?

mannie gray

@DBSTrader2 said:
Coinjunkie posted: "..... I think any series that ends sparks collector interest. Of course, when they finally discontinue the cent altogether, that should probably have an even greater effect on collecting."

Now that enough time has passed since countries like Canada have discontinued minting cents, have any studies been done which either confirm or dispute the notion that "absence makes the heart grow fonder", and its impact on collecting?

I agree that "absence makes the heart grow fonder,"
I have no scientific evidence to prove it, but I have noticed an uptick in sales recently (last year or so) in nice Memorial singles.
It may be that I am one of the few local dealers who stocks them though......
(These are the coins that used to sell for $30 and up slabbed which I cherrypick from rolls and now sell as singles for a dollar or two, rather than submitting them.)

Overdate

My favorite Memorial cent is my avatar, the 1960-D small over large date cent (along with its proof Philly twin). Still reasonably priced in my opinion.

Jimnight

What @CoinJunkie said.

ricko

I keep wheaties that I find in circulation... I do not keep memorial cents... though I do check for the anomalies like the wide/close AM and DD's....I guess the memorial cents just do not have the magic of my childhood coins... Cheers, RickO