Where are all the 's' mintmarked pennies from the 60's/70's?

DBSTrader2

My son's school had "Spirit Week" this past week. Part of it involves collecting pennies for charity at each grade level as a competition for "bragging rights".

I picked up a box of pennies to help the cause, and decided to look thru them first for wheaties, 1982's, etc....

I also have a few extra "Book 2" folders which I've tried to fill from circulation over the years, with the plan of eventually giving them away to YN's once filled (or close). So I figured I'd look to fill holes in them as well from the box.

All those rolls (and a small number of wheaties & Canadians), and I couldn't find the following dates/mintmarks I needed with Lincoln Memorial reverses (my extra folders only go up thru 1974) ..........

1959D
1962 (2)
1968S (2)
1969S (2)
1970S (2)
1971S
1972S (2)
1973S (3)
1974S (2)

These are not wheaties or anything (although they are copper....)..... are they really that relatively hard to find anymore in circulation?

- - Dave

keyman64

Pennies were not produced by the US Mint in the 1960s and 1970s.(Edit: or any other decade for that matter) Did you mean to post in the World and Ancient Coins Forum?

TomB

The 1968-1974 S-mint cents were always scarce on the east coast, even when they were current coinage.

Overdate

In the late 1950's and early 1960's, roll searchers (including myself) were saving any "S" wheat cents we found, regardless of date.

Something similar may have occurred with the "S" mint Memorial cents, even before hoarding began for any pre-1982 bronze cents.

DBSTrader2

keyman64: don't be dragging me into that debate between "cents" and "pennies"!

My blue Whitman folders say "cents", but all the wrappers of the rolls in the box say "pennies"........... and I do believe the famous song is "Pennies from heaven".......

-- Dave

TheRegulator

As a general rule, the S-mints are tougher to find. However, I have been finding quite a few lately, especially 1972-S and 1974-S pieces. The 1973-S has always been the toughest for me to find, but have managed to pluck a few of those lately. Right now, I would say the 1968-S has been the least frequently encountered Memorial S-mint. I've seen decent number of 1969-S pieces, too.

The early Philly-mint Memorials like 1959, 1961, and 1962 are some of the toughest Memorials to find, in my opinion. Putting together a nice set of copper Memorials from circulation would probably no longer be an easy task.

SCDHunter

<< <i>keyman64: don't be dragging me into that debate between "cents" and "pennies"!

My blue Whitman folders say "cents", but all the wrappers of the rolls in the box say "pennies"........... and I do believe the famous song is "Pennies from heaven".......

-- Dave >>



I think the US Mint officiates such matters. US Mint - Circulating Coinage

keyman64

<< <i>I think the US Mint officiates such matters. US Mint - Circulating Coinage >>


This clearly got past the US Mint Website Proof Readers. I am just going by what I read on the actual coins themselves. I have never seen a US Mint Coin with the word Penny on it....but hey, I'm new around here.

AUandAG

All I see are the S and D mint marks. P's are the tough ones for me.
But, then I'm in Vegas and the left coast.

bob

golfer72

I have been working on a Whitman folder for Memorials (59-98) pulled from circulation for about a year now. Not rolls, or boxes from the bank, strictly what I get in change. The only S I have gotten is the 68. None of the others. Its actually a lot of fun though. Reminds me of my youth I guess! I am in NY so I guess that explains the lack of S mints but you would think after all these years they would pretty much be distributed around.

Griv

They're all gone. People spent them.

DaveG

I'm in the NYC area, too and I hardly ever see any S-mint coins. I think they get pulled from circulation when people around here see them.

illini420

I moved to the West Coast a few years ago from Chicago. I rarely saw the S-mint coins when I was in Illinois, but since moving here I see them much more often and for some reason I save them all Just last week I found a really nice looking 1968-S that would probably grade MS63-RB. Probably not worth much more than a cent, but still pretty darn cool!

Tdec1000

Most people who collect small copper don't really have a problem with folks calling them pennies, even though they are technically cents. Heck I even call them pennies once in a while.

Tom

Snowman24

I'm in NYS and i hardly ever see any "S" pennies either
I probably see more wheats pennies than "S" memorials

Location is a big factor when looking thru circulation coins
and probably the split here in NYS between "P" and "D" coins is around 80/20
So "S" pennies would be even alot lower ...say less than a percent

coinman420

here in the northeast S mintmark cents are about as rare as wheaties. i do find 1975 and 1978 philly cents regularly. i also notice the ratio of copper to zinc cents is dropping just as i see wheaties to memorials dropping.

SoCalBigMark

Cent lady just don't sound right...

Baley

I have never seen a US Mint Coin with the word Penny on it

I've never seen a US Mint coin with the words "Trime" "Nickel", "Quarter Eagle", "Half Eagle", "Eagle", or "Double Eagle" on it either..

Yet people call the coins by those names and they are accepted in general conversation about the coins... unless someone gets prissy about it

cladking

I think what's more remarkable about the S-mints than how tough
they are to find is how tough they are to find nice. These coins still
had a little value in the '70's and actually circulated. Nice XF is about
the nicest you'll find but most of the memorials can be found in unc
or at least nice AU.

The attrition on pennies is just staggering. Now with copper at 3.60
they are a handy source for metal and this won't help them either.

TomB

<< <i>I have never seen a US Mint Coin with the word Penny on it

I've never seen a US Mint coin with the words "Trime" "Nickel", "Quarter Eagle", "Half Eagle", "Eagle", or "Double Eagle" on it either..

Yet people call the coins by those names and they are accepted in general conversation about the coins... unless someone gets prissy about it >>


I'm not going to get into the cent vs. penny debate in this thread, but I believe that the quarter eagle, half eagle, eagle and double eagle names are the official names that the US government gave to the respective denominations.

ambro51

If you want to get picky with the terminology the mint uses start calling them quareter-dollars and half-dollars and dont forget the hyphen.

I pick the S mints out when I search rolls and usually find a few. but only a few, in a box. Best one was a super fine 70 S that was EZ 64-65 RD. ended up in the whitman....

pmac

<< <i>Pennies were not produced by the US Mint in the 1960s and 1970s.(Edit: or any other decade for that matter) Did you mean to post in the World and Ancient Coins Forum? >>


Charmy Harker, the Cent Lady. Nah, doesn't have a good ring to it.

Unknown

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ProofArtworkonCircs

<<If you want to get picky with the terminology the mint uses start calling them quareter-dollars and half-dollars and dont forget the hyphen.>>

There are no hyphens on any of my coins.

sumnom

<< <i>The 1968-1974 S-mint cents were always scarce on the east coast, even when they were current coinage. >>



I remember that from when I was a kid on the east coast unable to find S cents. Now that I am on the west coast, I find them in change regularly, even now. I put them aside only because I remember what a treasure they seemed when I was a kid. I have a little stack on my desk. Now I am excited when I see cents with no mintmark!

Here is my hoard of precious S cents:

1968-S
1970-S (x4)
1971-S (x2)
1972-S
1974-S

BlindedByEgo

I remember when I was a kid in the early 70's, my uncle in North Carolia had my dad send him all the 1968-S cents that he could get his hands on. IIRC, my uncle was getting over $3/ roll

Baley

I'm not going to get into the cent vs. penny debate in this thread, but I believe that the quarter eagle, half eagle, eagle and double eagle names are the official names that the US government gave to the respective denominations.

Then we're in agreement: it doesn't have to say it on the coin, to be called something, either officially or unofficially. A coin can have more than one correct name.

to get back on topic, living in California, we'd get a lot of S mint coins in change when I was a kid.

Fewer and fewer now. I may empty out a change jar collected over the past couple of years and take a little survey..

GrumpyEd

Must only be rare in the east, in the west I still see some 68S-74S cents. In filling folders from circ the hardest ones to find here were 59P, 60P, 61P. 62P.

DBSTrader2

AUandAG:

I sure hate those mintmarks on the nickels, dimes, quarters, halves & dollars, but I'm pretty sure you'll have a next to IMPOSSIBLE time finding any of the "P" cents you're looking for !

- - Dave

DBSTrader2

Unofficial findings from the $25 box in question:

1982 (all varieties)= 56 = 2.24%
1982D (all varieties) = 7 = 0.28%

wheaties = 18 = 0.72% (1930, 40(2), 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47D, 53, 55(3), 56(2), 56D, 57, 58)

Canadian = 7 = 0.28% (1943, 71, 81, 83, 86, 99, 2000)

2009 Lincoln "formative years" = 1 = 0.04% ("log-sitter")

misc "book 2" hole-fillers = 12 = 0.48%

S-mints = 0 = 0%
new "shield" reverse = 0 = 0%


TOTAL approx 4% of interest, or 2 per roll...............

tightbudget

<< <i>Unofficial findings from the $25 box in question:

1982 (all varieties)= 56 = 2.24%
1982D (all varieties) = 7 = 0.28%

wheaties = 18 = 0.72% (1930, 40(2), 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47D, 53, 55(3), 56(2), 56D, 57, 58)

Canadian = 7 = 0.28% (1943, 71, 81, 83, 86, 99, 2000)

2009 Lincoln "formative years" = 1 = 0.04% ("log-sitter")

misc "book 2" hole-fillers = 12 = 0.48%

S-mints = 0 = 0%
new "shield" reverse = 0 = 0%


TOTAL approx 4% of interest, or 2 per roll............... >>



No 2010 cents either? Don't know where you're from, but I'm seeing quite a few of them in Baltimore.

WaterSport

Which begs the question...WHY are we still holding on to all these cents???.
WS

kurtdog

<< <i>I picked up a box of pennies >>

Remember these boxes are separately audited bank bags. If you want to ensure a variety of coin, spread that $25 out (pick up $5 in rolls at each of 5 different banks or branches).

DBSTrader2

I picked up the box on a whim. The nearby bank I deal with is a relatively new branch of a 2-branch bank. They hardly ever have anyone else in the bank when I stop by.... they either must do more business servicing mortgages, etc, or are a money-laundering front

Things are soooooo slow there that they almost NEVER have to order any change, although they once ordered a box of halves for me special. They haven't had to re-order anything from when they first opened-up, and have YET to get in any state or national park rolls, or even any of the Presidential dollar rolls that I can at least seem to get elsewhere....

They happened to have one of their initial boxes available this day. Each roll was a nice mix. Nothing for the most part newer than 2008 (just 1 coin in 1 roll). But at least they weren't all bright shiny new ones.... a very nice and full mix of bright/high-grade early-60's thru late 2000's, along with dull, beaten examples of the same as well. Perfect mix to look thru to fill the folders, at least.

I have to turn the extras in today at a bank with a free counter & will ask if they have any Lincoln Pres $ rolls. I will also ask if they have any National Park Q's, but doubt they will - - they are completely invisible in roll form around here.


- - Dave

TwoSides2aCoin

Some fellow brought me a whole box of rolled coins prior to '82. He'd been picking out copper for a "long time" apparently. Who wants 'em ? I paid him 2 cents each and WILL NOT search these. They make me cringe. There are probably a few "S" minted coins in this nicely packed box of 5,000. When I asked him if he'd searched for certain error coins like the '69 S doubled die, he looked at me and said "huh ? "

I still have a jar of coins that I placed in vegetable oil from KH (blinded by ego), which have gone unsearched. Available upon request.


I don't like green hags and spam.

CaptHenway

There was quite a bit of hoarding of the S-mint cents of 1968-73, as the roll and bag mentality of the mid-1960's was still in many people's minds. The problem was so bad that the Mint had the Fed deliberately mix the 1974-S release in with circulated older coins before shipping them to member banks. Then they just gave up making S-mint coins for circulation, because they weren't circulating.

There was also a bit of a cent shortage at the time, which may have been why the Mint cared about the S-mints not circulating. I started working for Coin World in December of 1973, and some time in the next year CW started a campaign to get people to recycle their old cents out of dresser drawers and glass jars and whatnot. Everybody at Amos Press (about 300 people at the time) was urged to bring their odd cents in, and then I and another young staffer and a cameraman took them over to Citizens Baughman National Bank to deposit them.

TD

kurtdog

<< <i>There was quite a bit of hoarding of the S-mint cents of 1968-73, as the roll and bag mentality of the mid-1960's was still in many people's minds. The problem was so bad that the Mint had the Fed deliberately mix the 1974-S release in with circulated older coins before shipping them to member banks. Then they just gave up making S-mint coins for circulation, because they weren't circulating. >>

I'd have never guessed they'd have gone to that extreme. I'll tell you this, though. I'm living proof of that "roll and bag mentality of the mid-1960's" you referenced. You''re spot-on on that one.

Griv

Cents are now hereby called "zots". That should settle this.

PipestonePete

The original "ZOTZ". Accept no substitutes. These were great back in the early '70's and they are available again in 2010!

Hendrixkat

DBSTRADER2 = I am in Philadelphia, PA. I have an uncirculated 1968S and a 1972S if you need them. I also have 3 of the 4 different uncirculated 2009 cents and also an uncirculated 2010 shield cent. If you need them let me know and I will ship all 6 of them to you.

Sincerely,

Shawn

DBSTrader2

Thanks for the offer, Shawn! PM replied to.

- - Dave

ernie11

Also live in the Philadelphia area, and rarely see the 68-74-S pennies. Most of the ones I have in my collection were gathered in the few short months I lived in Arizona in the 70's, they were extremely common then. The mintages are low enough to make them harder to find now, but not low enough to really merit much value yet. maybe in 50 years?