6th ANNUAL MPL POPULATION UPDATE REPORT

Steve · March 19, 2013 10:17AM

For those of you who have been following the Set Registry forum thru the years and have an interest in Matte Proof Lincoln cents (1909-1916) you probably know that every year in March I update the MPL certified coin population numbers as reported by PCGS, NGC, ANACS and now also including ICG. Since only 15,914 of these coins in total have been issued by the US Mint it is interesting (to me at least) how many get certified each year by the grading services that report the numbers on line. A total of 5,551 of these coins have now been certified which is a net increase of only 64 from the 2012 adjusted total of 5,487 which included ICG numbers. PCGS has a net increase of 47 and NGC added 16.

Some other highlights:

PLUS GRADES (+) PCGS has now graded 33, up from 29 last year and 21 in 2011 when they started the + grading. NGC now has 3, up from their first 2 last year. Neither ANACS or ICG use + grades.

A comment about ANACS and ICG reported populations. ANACS reported absolutely NO changes in any of the nine dates this year. The total graded remains at 827. They reported 820 in 2011 and 812 in 2010. ICG started reporting on May 31, 2012 with 101 graded. Since then they adjusted their reported grades and color designations but apparently added only 1 coin, a 1914 MPL in PR64RB. Their total is now 102.

The PCGS population increase of 47 shows no changes for the 1909VDB and the 1909, and single digit increases for all the other dates except the 1913 which was up by 13. NGC's population increase of 16 included net DECREASES of 2 1909VDB, 3 1910's and 2 1915's. Both PCGS and NGC do adjust their populations when labels are turned back and I see this reflected in the numbers each year. The only significant increase in NGC's numbers was a 10 increase for the 1909 from 218 total graded last year to 228 total graded now.

The Red (RD) color designation remains the most difficult to get certified. Last year I reported 960 of all the MPL's were certified as RED. ICG has reported 24 in their initial report so we now stand at 984. PCGS added 1 this year and NGC lost 1 this year.

I have the EXCEL worksheets if anyone is REALLY interested into delving into the detail. Send me a PM with your email address and what worksheets you need. Those of us who are lucky to own all nine of these little gems know how special they really are.
Steve