My Lincoln Cent Journey In A Dansco Album

Thank you! Alright... I need some thoughts. I am thinking about making my first large purchase for Lincoln cents key date coins. I am looking at either the 1909 S or the 1931 S. They both seem to be similar in price.

I found a 1909 S on ebay for around 80 dollars due to it being "cleaned" which doesn't bother me. But is it worth purchasing? All others seem to be upwards of 100 dollars or more.

If it's a good deal, I'd like to snag it up potentially.


The back

These might be the only two key dates of Lincoln cents that I'm able to afford as I certainly won't be adding an S VDB, 14 D or 22 plain, unless I find the latter two for an extremely worn condition, excellent price, which I doubt.

But what do you think though personally? I also found another one thats not cleaned for 90 rated at VG 8.

Yeah, I like saving money, though. Lol.

I honestly kind of like the shine that some cleaned coins have.

Yep! I did. I found out looking further at the details that the listing for the cleaned 1909 S cent has NO returns accepted at all.
Yeah, no thanks. Call me ridiculous maybe, but if I am spending that much money on something, let alone a coin, I want to at least have the option to return if I am not satisfied in any way. Something that's like, 5 bucks? Alright, fine. No big deal.







As much as I liked the way the other coin looked more, this was probably a smarter purchase. Cost 90 dollars, which seems to be cheaper still than most other graded/certified 1909-S coins I've seen so far on ebay.

Let me know what you guys think. This is my first expensive coin purchase as well, and I feel more justified in spending it as well since I sort of actually need this in my "collection." As you may recall, I had purchased another graded coin recently, that 1950 proof nickel. I ended up cancelling/returning it. I didn't realize it had that mark on the back, and I also don't technically really need it.

Good decision.

Thank you, my friends! I am still kinda, eh... On the fence about my choice to spend 90 dollars on a coin. Lol.

Thankfully, Klarna is very helpful in such situations on ebay. I would in no way, shape or form normally have nearly 100 dollars to spend on one single coin. And I think my wife might also make me sleep on the couch if I did this. Lol.

I think my next purchase, if I do go this route will be the 1931-S. But when I will do this I do not know.
Normally, around my birthday, I get tons of money. Unfortunately, it is six months away. Lol.
Plenty of time to think and contemplate, though. I think I will try to obtain the 1931-S, and then maybe later on I will find a deal on a 1914-D. The 1922 plain and the 1909-S VDB are unfortunately in all scenarios out of my price range.

I think maybe in between then, I will hunt around here and there for coins that are in nicer shape for some of the older wheat cents.

Also, any of these key date coins I will try to get them that are already graded/slabbed. I don't really trust buying coins like this, considering they could be fake.
Is it a cardinal sin to crack open the slabs to add the coin to my Dansco book if I chose to go this route? Personally, I don't think I will. I'll just fill in the slots with other like coins and keep the key dates in the slabs. When spending 100 dollars or more on a coin, I'd prefer it be well protected.

Interesting take. Thank you for the advice. I actually decided to return the coin for now. At the end of the year, when I have extra money, I will invest in some of they key date coins.

So I did some coin roll hunting and recently found some surprisingly nice finds.

I finally, FINALLY found the 1974-S. Why the hell is this coin so elusive? I could be wrong, but I don't recall it being super low mintage or anything.

Kind of hard to tell, but I am quite shocked that I found this 1919-S.

This also highly gunked and filthy 1929. This is my first time ever finding a 20's era Wheat cent in circulation/CRH.

A nice little upgrade for my 59-D

Well lookie that. Quite shocked to find this.

Looking good!


It has been harshly cleaned in the past. Maybe with an eraser or it may have been dipped (acid thiourea). Grab a random cent to experiment, you will probably be able to reproduce the look.

Start with a review of Bad Thad's polarity ladder.

Then review what DOCC has been able to do for ground finds: https://goccf.com/t/479970