Do you all recall the circumstance of how the '55 DDO Lincoln was first observed in circulation?

coindeuce

I believe I have heard a corroborated version. How about you ?

They were originally found in Upstate New York (near Utica), and many were distributed in cigarette packs in vending machines. The price of the cigarettes was 23 cents per pack, and two pennies were included inside the outer cellophane wrapper to even up the price to the quarter required to buy from the machine.

Anyone here ever seen one of those original cigarette packs ?

GrumpyEd

I've heard the story, it might have been that they were only in one brand that was cheaper, maybe Lucky Strikes?

You hear that cigarette pack story and in recent times of circs being found in hoards of wheats but hardly ever hear of someone finding them in a bankroll/1955 OBW.

CaptHenway

I believe that Q. David Bowers told that story back in the late 60's or early 70's.

I am sure that if you were to read everything that QDB has ever published you would find it somewhere.

TD

NotSure

That's what I had read here a long time back.....though, where I'm not a smoker (being an athlete, just couldn't), I just can't picture a pack with change SEALED in the pack (were they the same $$, including tax, per pack in all states??). Besides that, I don't think I've seen a cig machine since, well, I can't remember the last time, and at $10 plus per pack here in Mass, it'd have to be next to an ATM!

EagleEye

That's why hardly any of them show much red.

DCW

I heard that these were discovered in the Boston area, not New York. I have often wondered if a cigarette pack exists with the two 1955 doubled dies lying in situ.

DCW

I did once own one in MS63RB that showed toning in the shape of scotch tape across the obverse. I always wondered if it was in fact due to it being taped to a box of cigarettes for a prolonged period.

CaptHenway

<< <i>I heard that these were discovered in the Boston area, not New York. I have often wondered if a cigarette pack exists with the two 1955 doubled dies lying in situ. >>



Is it even remotely possible that a smoker might have left a packet of cigarettes UNOPENED????

TireKicker

<< <i>

<< <i>I heard that these were discovered in the Boston area, not New York. I have often wondered if a cigarette pack exists with the two 1955 doubled dies lying in situ. >>



Is it even remotely possible that a smoker might have left a packet of cigarettes UNOPENED???? >>



That would be a big no

ricko

Not sure about the location, but remember seeing them in a pack of cigarettes... my Father was a smoker...Cheers, RickO

pitboss

I remember buying those cigarettes with the 2 cents in the pack back then from vending machines because I was only 16 at the time and that was how I got my cigarettes.

MrHalfDime

It may not have been when the '55 DDO Lincoln Cent was first observed in circulation, but I recall reading, many years ago, of a dealer who, in 1955, hired school kids to look through large quantities of rolls of coins, and to set aside anything that looked 'different'. The kids began finding a quantity of the '55 DDO Lincolns. When the dealer saw these, he thought they were curious, but wasn't sure if they would sell. He set a pile of them in his display window, with a sign listing some very low price each. After they remained in the window for a long time, with none of them selling, he wrapped them back up and returned them to the bank. I do not recall the name of the dealer, nor the city where this took place, but I do remember reading that a long time ago.

pitboss

I was collecting cents at that time but even cents were valuable so only was interested in old ones and did not even think about double dies.

coindeuce

<< <i>It may not have been when the '55 DDO Lincoln Cent was first observed in circulation, but I recall reading, many years ago, of a dealer who, in 1955, hired school kids to look through large quantities of rolls of coins, and to set aside anything that looked 'different'. The kids began finding a quantity of the '55 DDO Lincolns. When the dealer saw these, he thought they were curious, but wasn't sure if they would sell. He set a pile of them in his display window, with a sign listing some very low price each. After they remained in the window for a long time, with none of them selling, he wrapped them back up and returned them to the bank. I do not recall the name of the dealer, nor the city where this took place, but I do remember reading that a long time ago. >>



I know the above tale well. The dealer was the late Lenard L. Babin in Rochester, N.Y. Babin was a long time in the business, having operated out of at least 3 different locations during his career in Rochester. The '55 doubled dies were displayed in a front window, accumulated in a pile in front of a woven wicker basket with the shape of a cornucopia. I'm not sure that the part about returning the coins to a bank is accurate or factual though. That would have been completely out of character for Lenard.

MrHalfDime

"I'm not sure that the part about returning the coins to a bank is accurate or factual though. That would have been completely out of character for Lenard."

It may very well be that he didn't return them to the bank; I was lucky to remember the basic story. The mind plays tricks on our memory as we get older. The mind is a terrible thing to lose.

TwoSides2aCoin

One of my first recollections was my birthday party in 1959. I was 4.

I recall my dad a couple years later , early one morning when the rest of my siblings and mom were sleeping, telling me the story, (most likely ) as it was written back in those days (from a coin magazine) : That the brand of cigarettes were Lucky Strike , non-filtered and that this was the ONLY place known to get these specimens. I have no recall beyond what my dad said and the "re-reading" of similar stories from "online" that seemed to validate that my dad was most certainly a closet collector. ( like it was a "geeky" thing to do) . I don't think my dad ever "lied" to me and I knew his exaggerations were merely funny story telling. (we could always differentiate because there was a punch line to his jokes) When he was serious, he would just give the information and leave us to THINK and figure it out. No clue why my siblings never got the bug.

He did tell me that if I could find a 1943 Copper cent that it would help him with the finances raising a bunch of children. I searched for about 12 years , burned out and took up different interests for the next 25 years. He died in '99 forty years later. That's when I decided to come back to the hobby.

'55 was a good year. My dad was a good man. He probably read the story David Bowers wrote in a magazine. I cannot recall, l with certainty, anything before then. And what's really strange…. I can't remember where I put my keys.

If I think back logically how vending machines worked, it stands to reason. The prices of a single pack of cigarettes went from $.20 to $.23. The vending machines only dispensed nickels and dimes to change a quarter. The "two cent" gimmick was probably the way cigarette manufacturers (tobacco industry) decided the best way to keep the natives from revolting at the price increase. Then, one day…. A discovery ! And the rest is history. Re-written.

RichieURich

I don't remember much about how they were first observed in circulation, but a long-time collector told me that in the late 1950's, he was offered two BU rolls for $35 each. He decided to pass. I believe this story, since it was told to me by that collector.

newnotes

A guy I worked with told me MANY years ago that while he was at a PNA (Polish National Alliance) bowling tournament in Rochester, NY he found two of these in a pack of cigarettes. He then bought all of the remaining packs and claimed he found the guy who was filling the machine and bought another roll and a half of the 55 DD's. He was a window clerk at our local Post Office and was really up on stamps and coins. I believed him. I've recently spoken to a nephew of his, the clerk is long deceased, and he recalls something about the story and will ask around the family about it.

droopyd

<< <i>I've heard the story, it might have been that they were only in one brand that was cheaper, maybe Lucky Strikes?

You hear that cigarette pack story and in recent times of circs being found in hoards of wheats but hardly ever hear of someone finding them in a bankroll/1955 OBW. >>



Yes Lucky Strikes.

droopyd

<< <i>I heard that these were discovered in the Boston area, not New York. I have often wondered if a cigarette pack exists with the two 1955 doubled dies lying in situ. >>



My understanding is that finds were mostly in upstate NY and western MA. I've not heard of any finds in cig packs (since the original early finds) and most of them had already been liberated before being noticed..

droopyd

<< <i>Not sure about the location, but remember seeing them in a pack of cigarettes... my Father was a smoker...Cheers, RickO >>



DDOs or just regular non doubled die pennies?

coindeuce

<< <i>

<< <i>Not sure about the location, but remember seeing them in a pack of cigarettes... my Father was a smoker...Cheers, RickO >>



DDOs or just regular non doubled die pennies? >>



I have reason to believe that other '55 cents were also used.

WingedLiberty1957

U.S. & World Coin News and Article

Smoking Pays Off For Collectors

Jaime Hernandez - October 11, 2011

In the year 1955, some lucky individuals who smoked cigarettes (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it), had the opportunity of receiving one or two brand new Uncirculated 1955 Doubled Die cents in change from cigarette vending machines.

At the time, a pack of cigarettes would only cost 23 cents from vending machines. However, there was one problem: those vending machines would only take quarters. In 1955, the vending machines were just not equipped to take different coin denominations or give back change. The cigarette companies had to either raise the prices or figure out a way to give back change.

Instead of taking the risk of raising prices and possibly losing customers to other cigarette companies, some cigarette vendors decided to place two cents inside each pack of cigarettes to give back as change. Therefore, when smokers placed a quarter in the cigarette vending machines, the customers would receive a pack of cigarettes with two Lincoln cents that were inside the cellophane packaging. And this is where many of the 1955 Doubled Dies were discovered!



Thanks to the dramatic doubling on the 1955 Doubled Die cents, it did not require strong magnification or a loupe in 1955 to see the doubling on the new cents. So many 1955 Doubled Dies were found the same year in which they were released, as most people could easily spot the doubling with the naked eye. Since many 1955 Doubled Die cents were pulled from circulation shortly after they were minted and set aside by collectors, most coins today exist in high-grade condition. In fact, the majority of existing 1955 Doubled Dies today are in AU to Uncirculated condition. This is because many of them barely circulated or did not circulate at all.

The 1955 Doubled Dies were created when the Mint accidentally struck a working hub and a working die together while they were both slightly rotated differently from one another. Consequently, this working die then received a doubled die impression. And as a result, this working die struck thousands of 1955 Doubled Die cents.



After the 1955 Doubled Dies were struck, they were mixed with millions of regular circulation strike cents of the same year. Mint employees did manage to capture many of the error 1955 Doubled Die cents before they went into circulation, but many more circumvented their screening process. Consequently, the Mint decided that it was just not worth the trouble of melting millions of cents just to try to retrieve the approximately 25,000 Doubled Die cents that were accidentally produced. Since then, so many coins have been lost and damaged in circulation, that today's number of surviving examples is more like 10,000 to 15,000 in all grades combined.

PCGS Slab Populations:

HIGHLOWLEAVES

My source for a nice example of a 1955 Doubled Die Cent was a semi coin dealer in Houston back in the early Sixties by the name of Mr. W. Davis. I remember that this was the one Lincoln cent that I still needed to complete my large Capital Plastics penny board back around 1962. I was a YN about 15 years old and mowed many of a yard to earn coin money. My father drove me to meet Mr. Davis in SW Houston who was a middle aged man who drove a big yellow Cadillac sedan, smoked cigarettes using a holder and chewed gum !! He treated me to pick out a very nice red example of this rare coin from a complete (50 coin) roll that he with him. I gave him $50 for my pick. Needless to say, I was "Impressed". The coin was recognized as a rare Lincoln cent even back then but I don't think that they had matured as a rarity yet at that time. A little more than 40 years later, I started hearing about some kind of WI Extra Leaf quarters being found in AZ back in 2004. The quarters didn't mean much to me until they started to show up here in the SA, Tx area. Rick Snow has made a strong comparison of the similar rarity (comparable mintage, TPG Populations) of the 1955 Doubled Die cent and the 2004 D WI Extra Leaf coins. Serious State Quarter collectors and variety collectors will support the Leaf coins probably many years from now. Mark.

GrumpyEd

Pretty amazing that for PCGS there's only 238 in red and under 2000 in MS, some were probably cracked and counted more than once.
That's a very low total considering how many people collect Lincolns and want an example.

rhedden

Those cigarette packs truly were Lucky Strikes for a while there. Too bad few people had the presence of mind to realize the significance of the coins at the time.

oreville

i found two 1955 DDO cents in two different uncirculated obw 1955 cent rolls. One was in 1968 and the other, in 1970.

Oddly, both DDO cents were brown and were end coins while the other coins were red. the other end coins, both non DDO cents were also brown.

Gemini

Dave Bowers wrote about the 1955 double die in his first hard cover book "Coins and Collectors" pages 12-13-14 and in his soft cover book The "Numismatist Countryside Companion" volume five page 147 "The Career of James Ruddy" (who was to become Dave's first partner in the coin business) I remember also reading about them in a copy of Dave's "Rare Coin Review" he did mention that the double dies were referred to by coin collectors as "freaks" there were few collectors of freak coins at the time but the excitement of finding the Double Die, the Bugs Bunny Franklin Half and the Cracked Head Lincoln all of 1955 had everyone looking at their change. The double dies were discovered in Upstate New York and Massachusetts particularly in the Boston are they were found between the cellophane in packs of cigarettes (not only in packs of Lucky Strike) the price for cigarettes was 23 cents in vending machines and the two cents change was placed inside. Dave writes that In the beginning dealers were paying 25 cents each for the reason that freaks or oddity coins were not widely collected and they usually sold for less than a normal coin. One dealer friend of his stopped buying them after he accumulated a dozen or so fearing there would be a glut of them turning up. The price soon climbed to $1 then to $2 and then everyone wanted one. In 1958 Empire Coin Company offered brilliant uncirculated Double Die cents for $7.50 each which brought in dozens of orders and they soon ran out. Then Dave goes on to say that during the ensuing years the prices rose to $20 $40 $95 $150.00 $300.00 people started looking at coins and began to collect any oddity no matter how slight the variety.

DonWillis

The first 55 double die I saw was in 1959 or 60. It was at Sammy's Corner Store, a favorite candy store in Binghamton NY, right near the baseball field where we would always play. Sammy would buy discarded soda bottles for 2c each which was a lot of money then. We would ride our bikes until we found a couple bottles by the roadside (the term litter had not yet been invented and it was accepted practice just to throw stuff out the car window). A penny would buy 2 pcs. of candy! I remember examining the coin and showing it to my friend Richard. After we commented on what a bad job the mint had done I spent it on more candy!

BTW - Binghamton NY was where QDB and Jim had their coin business at the time which I think was called Empire Coins. QDB was on the local news after he paid the unbelievable sum on $10,000 for an 1894-S 10c.

sparky64

I enjoy these stories.
I wish there was at least a regional size show in Binghamton.
I think it would bring quite a few people out of numismatic hibernation.
Perhaps Mr. Willis could round up some of his childhood friends and have a reunion.

Gemini

<< <i>The first 55 double die I saw was in 1959 or 60. It was at Sammy's Corner Store, a favorite candy store in Binghamton NY, right near the baseball field where we would always play. Sammy would buy discarded soda bottles for 2c each which was a lot of money then. We would ride our bikes until we found a couple bottles by the roadside (the term litter had not yet been invented and it was accepted practice just to throw stuff out the car window). A penny would buy 2 pcs. of candy! I remember examining the coin and showing it to my friend Richard. After we commented on what a bad job the mint had done I spent it on more candy!

BTW - Binghamton NY was where QDB and Jim had their coin business at the time which I think was called Empire Coins. QDB was on the local news after he paid the unbelievable sum on $10,000 for an 1894-S 10c. >>



Yes Don the purchase of the 1894-S dime was reported in the Binghamton Press and a photo of Jim holding the rare dime in one hand and a piles of cash in front of him representing the record amount paid for at the time it was at the Stack's Sale in 1957 the bidding began at $4,200. and Bowers commissioned Ruddy to bid up the coin to $4,750. when it was over they had paid a record for the coin at the time. Bowers was featured in Seventeen magazine and then made an appearance on the Today television show it wasn't until the following year April 1st 1958 that Bowers and Ruddy joined their businesses and incorporated to form the Empire Coin Company located at 252 Main Street Johnson City by 1961 their Company had achieved sales of over $1 million a record at the time. I had purchased my very first mail order coin from their Empire Co. in the early 60's it was a 1858 Flying Eagle Cent LL XF for $48. I remember that the 1856 Flying Eagle pattern was selling for $1000. at that time.

sparky64

Here's a nice short story by QDB. 1955 DDO story

He says they had more than 800 of them on hand at one time.

Shamika

I remember reading about many being found around Northampton Massachusetts.

sawyerjosh

vending machines to my knowledge, but not 100 percent sure.

CaptHenway

Just as an aside, the story has established that vending machine cigarettes were 23 cents in 1955. For most of 1971, I worked at a party store in the suburbs of Detroit and most cigarettes were 41 cents a pack. The really long cigarettes were either 43 or 45 cents.

Because of that 41 cent price, we went through a lot of cents in the cash register, which of course I got to look through when I opened a roll. The smart(?) people bought them by the carton for $3.65 a carton, but most people just bought one or two packs.

Towards the end of my year there the price went up to 42 cents, and boy did people scream at the price increase! What are they now? $9 a pack?

droopyd

<< <i>After we commented on what a bad job the mint had done I spent it on more candy! >>

19Lyds

<< <i>

<< <i>I heard that these were discovered in the Boston area, not New York. I have often wondered if a cigarette pack exists with the two 1955 doubled dies lying in situ. >>



Is it even remotely possible that a smoker might have left a packet of cigarettes UNOPENED???? >>

While its not related to the 55/55 coins, I recall that my mother had saved a red and white striped pack of Camel's that were given out during one of IKE's election Campaigns. They were I LIKE IKE Camels with his picture on the pack.

Of course, it's long gone now.

fiveNdime

<< <i>Because of that 41 cent price, we went through a lot of cents in the cash register, which of course I got to look through when I opened a roll. >>


working in his dads liquor store(calif) as a young teen, that extra cent is how my dad got a 09 S vdb in change. he still has it too.

he never found a 55 DDO though.