What Are The Top Varieties In Lincoln Cents

You mention alot of the newer coins, but just about anything can be pulled. Like Coop mentioned, though its highly unlikely you'll pull a 1955 DDO, you can still pull a 1972 DDO Type 3 early 80's DDO's and a slew of RPM's. What my son and I did was compose a list of potential coins to keep. We wrote down the years and mint marks. Those were searchable coins. Most of the others were looked at very quickly for grade and any oddities. All copper is kept, all non error/variety zincs tossed back.

So when we search a box, we're flying through it pretty quick when we know the years and mints to look for.

I suggest going to http://www.pcgs.com and go to the PRICE GUIDE from there choose the Lincoln cents you want to know about. The list is MS on top, and proofs at the bottom. To the far LEFT COLUMN, if there is a PLUS "+" sign, it means that there could be a variety located under that year. Thats the cheapest way to pull a list that a grading company recognizes. http://www.ngccoin.com has a VARIETY PLUS area under their research tab that does the same thing. NGC may even show pictures.

The Whitman's " Cherry Pickers Guide Vol" I has a list of SOME of the key dates, but the prices in the guide may be jacked up. There are 2 volumes, Volume one is basically pennies and nickels, and volume II is everything else.

All we did was write down the years and mint marks. simple. Then, go through the box. The years and mint marks that are possibilities are kept, the others (zinc) and quickly put into the return pile. A whole box can be done very quickly, and then, you can sort the rest by date, and look them over quick. For us, it works great when we do penny boxes.

Also try Lincolncentresource.com

Also, don't forget to look for clips and Cuds on every coin. Cuds, in particular, sell well on ebay.