DD27's 500th Post Contest!

1909

Incredible idea! Hope you get some new supporters!

1906. ?

Didn't change my guess, just that Spence's contest got me to become a supporter. I thought about it, know it takes a few bucks to operate a large server sized website, had enjoyed the amount of interaction and learning and decided it was something worthwhile to become a part of. So whoever's enjoying the yacht this month, when do the rest of us get a turn?

1900

Thanks for the contest.

Y'all are awesome! Thanks so much for the positive spirit and commitment to CCF. :O)

Btw, please feel free to offer suggestions about my contest. And thank you to spruett001 and Spence, and other contest holders, for paving the way and making this easier for me.

Here are some of the prizes I've created--I will add a couple more. The winner--the guy or gal who guesses my paternal grandfather's exact birth year, or who is the closest, will choose whichever prize he or she wants; the next closest chooses a prize second, etc.

Note that if you win a prize, but you don't want or need it, you may 'bequeath' it to a CCF Supporter of your choice. Just email me his or her postal mailing address, and I'll send the prize to your designated recipient. (I will also happily donate a prize to a Young Numismatist club of your choosing.)

CONTEST PRIZES

2014-D Native American dollar, Enhanced Uncirculated - From the 2014 Coin & Currency Set, graded SP-69 by NGC. {See more info about this coin below.}

2016 Currency & Coin Set - Includes the 2016-S Enhanced Uncirculated Native American dollar and a "$1 note containing a low serial number from one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks". The Coin & Currency Set is still available from the U.S. Mint for $14.95 + shipping (about $5), but you get it for free since this is a prize. {More info about the 2016-S Enhanced Uncirculated N.A. Dollar is below.

One Lincoln Wheat cent from each of the coin's first 25 years (1909-1933) - As you might expect, most of the pennies will be from the Philadelphia Mint, but there will be a few from the Denver and San Francisco Mints. The condition (grade) of the cents ranges from G-4 to F-12. If I was wealthy and could give away a 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1922 'no D', and 1931-S, I would love to do so. But, unfortunately, I ain't no Uncle Scrooge.

~~~

Here's some more info about the Native American dollars:

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2014-D Native American dollar, Enhanced Uncirculated
The 2014-D Native American dollar coin, features Sacagawea on the obverse, and an engraving honoring Native Hospitality on the reverse. Only 50,000 minted.

SP-69 or MS-69?
Graded at SP-69 by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC). This grade is equivalent to MS-69. The SP stands for 'Specimen', which NGC defines as "a hybrid between Mint State and Proof."

Enhanced Uncirculated
The United States Mint refers to these coins as Enhanced Uncirculated. The Mint issues the Enhanced Uncirculated Native American dollars as one of the two components in their Coin & Currency Sets. The other component of the set is a $1 bill, which is not part of this prize.

As noted above, the US Mint produced a relatively low number of these coins. For example, compare the mintage for this Enhanced Uncirculated 2014-D Native American dollar coin with the general circulation and proof mintages.

2014-P General circulation = 3,080,000
2014-D General circulation = 2,800,000
2014-S Proof = 1,144,154
2014-D Enhanced Uncirculated = 50,000

Reference
Yeoman, R. S., Bressett, K., Bowers, Q. D., & Garrett, J. (Eds.) (2016). A Guidebook of United States coins, Deluxe Edition ('Mega Red'). Atlanta: Whitman Publishing.]

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The 2016 Currency & Coin Set is limited to a mintage of 75,000 so there will be a relatively small number of these coins compared to the Native American dollars produced for general circulation (Business Strike), regular Uncirculated Sets, and Proof Sets {1} :

Year/Mint Strike Mintage
2016-P Business 2,800,000
2016-D Business 2,100,000
2016-P Uncirculated {2} 267,313
2016-D Uncirculated {3} 282,696
2016-S Proof 683,2724 {4}
2016-S Enhanced Uncirculated 46,359 {5}

Note: All production figures (mintage) are as of 08 January 2017 as reported on the United States Mint website.

Footnotes
1. All strikes have the same composition: Manganese-Brass, which consists of 85.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, and 2% nickel. (Source: United States Mint)

2. Available as part of the 2016 Uncirculated Set (16RJ), which includes one Native American (N.A.) dollar from the Philadelphia Mint and one from the Denver Mint.

3. In addition to the 2016-D N.A. dollars included in the Annual Uncirculated Coin Set (16RJ), the Annual Uncirculated Dollar Coin Set (16RB) also contains 2016-D N.A. dollars, thus the higher mintage for N.A. dollar coins produced by the Denver Mint compared to the Philadelphia Mint.

4. Combined sales figure for sales of 2016 Proof Sets (16RG) and 2016 Silver Proof Sets (16RH). (Although the N.A. Dollar does not contain any silver, it is included in the Silver Proof Set for completeness.) [See Cumulative Sales Figures on the US Mint website.]

5. Over forty-six thousand 2016 Coin & Currency Sets have sold as of 08 Jan 2017, which is why the U.S. Mint still sells them----they will not be available after the Mint reaches the 75,000 sales mark.

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Wow! Great prize choices.

It makes me want to guess sooner...

CONTEST PRIZES - Complete & Final List

2014-D Native American dollar, Enhanced Uncirculated - From the 2014 Coin & Currency Set, graded SP-69 by NGC.

2016 Currency & Coin Set - Includes the 2016-S Enhanced Uncirculated Native American dollar and a "$1 note containing a low serial number from one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks". The Coin & Currency Set is still available from the U.S. Mint for $14.95 + shipping (about $5), but you get it for free since this is a prize.

One Lincoln Wheat cent from each of the coin's first 25 years (1909-1933) - As you might expect, most of the pennies will be from the Philadelphia Mint, but there will be a few from the Denver and San Francisco Mints. The condition (grade) of the cents ranges from G-4 to F-12.

Fifteen (15) 2017-D Native American Dollars - Business strike, never circulated but purchased as a bag of 100 coins from the U.S. Mint, so the coins have the usual bag marks and such, i.e., they're likely to all be at least MS-63, and mostly MS-65, but unlikely to be MS-69 or MS-70.

1946-S Lincoln Wheat cent, MS-65-RD (PCGS 80841808)

1947 Lincoln Wheat cent, MS-64-RD (NGC 4389512-015)

Not as currently defined, but I am open to suggestions that keep the contest fair and fun.

~ Mark

P.S. I just realized that if the contest ended today, everyone would win a prize--there are five entries, and six prizes.