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1974-D Aluminum Lincoln Cent

Forgive me if this has already been posted, but what is the consensus on this wacky piece? Link

Anyone know why exactly these were made?

Comments

  • JedPlanchetJedPlanchet Posts: 908 ✭✭✭
    Don't know the answers to your questions, but there were some date varieties made in anticipation of the aluminum cents

    link
    Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
  • StaircoinsStaircoins Posts: 2,577 ✭✭✭

    More info in this thread

  • Steve27Steve27 Posts: 13,275 ✭✭✭
    I must be getting old, because to me, these are part of current events:

    LINK
    "It's far easier to fight for principles, than to live up to them." Adlai Stevenson
  • Steve27Steve27 Posts: 13,275 ✭✭✭
    There is a famous true story about one which was in the possession of a United States Capitol Police officer's family. The Mint made up enough of them to show congress what they would look like. One congressman dropped his and the police officer, Albert Toven, picked it up in order to return it to him. The congressman just told him to keep it. It's now in a PCGS holder graded MS62, but I'm not sure who owns it.
    "It's far easier to fight for principles, than to live up to them." Adlai Stevenson
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,830 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Forgive me if this has already been posted, but what is the consensus on this wacky piece? Link

    Anyone know why exactly these were made? >>



    Utter WOW, folks!

    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • FredWeinbergFredWeinberg Posts: 5,930 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Read the next issue of Coin World
    for a very detailed story on this
    1974 Denver Aluminum Cent.

    Lots of interesting info and backround.
    Retired Collector & Dealer in Major Mint Error Coins & Currency since the 1960's.Co-Author of Whitman's "100 Greatest U.S. Mint Error Coins", and the Error Coin Encyclopedia, Vols., III & IV. Retired Authenticator for Major Mint Errors for PCGS. A 50+ Year PNG Member.A full-time numismatist since 1972, retired in 2022.
  • krankykranky Posts: 8,709 ✭✭✭
    That's an exciting new discovery! First I had heard they were made in Denver also.

    Unique piece today, but will it remain so?

    New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.

  • TiborTibor Posts: 3,694 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Are any of them legal to own?
  • Coins101Coins101 Posts: 2,603 ✭✭✭
    Sounds like another back-door stolen coin to me.

    I like how it was "the graveyard shift when they were stamped (minted)" and how "My father, Harry Edmond Lawrence, was Deputy Superintendent of the Denver Mint when the aluminum cent was struck. When he died in 1980, that coin and others he received over the years were in a plastic sandwich bag."

    This falls right back at the door steps of the 1933 Saints and 1964 Peace dollars.
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    And yet, there is no record or reports of a '72 Lincoln cent..... I guess the one I have seen is a counterfeit.....dammed good one though... Cheers, RickO
  • Coins101Coins101 Posts: 2,603 ✭✭✭


    << <i>And yet, there is no record or reports of a '72 Lincoln cent..... I guess the one I have seen is a counterfeit.....dammed good one though... Cheers, RickO >>



    It needs to be sent to PCGS and then we will see if there will be any "reports!"
  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,593 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>And yet, there is no record or reports of a '72 Lincoln cent..... I guess the one I have seen is a counterfeit.....dammed good one though... Cheers, RickO >>



    I have seen a 1973 struck in steel.
    Tir nam beann, nan gleann, s'nan gaisgeach ~ Saorstat Albanaich a nis!
  • Coins101Coins101 Posts: 2,603 ✭✭✭
    I have a 1936 Buffalo nickel made of lead. The obverse is very nice but the reverse is worn flat! image

    The interesting part is I picked up at an antique store in a town where my dad received on in change in the 1950's.

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