| Author |
 Replies: 9 / Views: 4,538 |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1450 Posts |
I have found a lot of info on grading wheat cents, but what do you look for on the reverse of Lincoln Memorial cents to determine grade? I assume the obverse would be the same as wheats.
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
There tends to be more trouble with strike and die condition on memorial cents so be sure to give the obverse a good look. A little planchet marking in the hair is a common problem to prevent otherwise great coins from going high grade.
On the reverse look at the steps of the memorial. They all need to be sharp even at the bottom. The sides should be there as well and pillars should be strong. Lincoln varies mostly by date, die quality, and pillar strenght.
This won't affect grade but on the zinc coins it's a good idea to look at the sides of the letters. On ectremely good strikes the copper is sometimes pulled right off leaving zinc exposed here. Such coins will not last. This is a particular problem on the finest '88 cents.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
19942 Posts |
Memorials are MUCH harder to grade IMO. I tend to the memorial building. The cornice, pillars, bushes and steps all seem to show wear pretty well. For strike quality and die wear, the steps are a great indicator. In general, I look at all the hits to the coin on both sides and irremovable black spots.
Back to my Memorial rant.....finding quality pieces is VERY VERY difficult. Memorial cents are churned out by the billions and then abused and mishandled. Good luck putting together a quality set. I've spend a long time on mine and I'm still not happy with it. Even the mint set coins are normally flawed with hits and black spots.
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
With a lot of the dates just finding a nice attractive coin is a lot of work. I'm not talking about gems but the nice ordinary choice unc and near gem coins. Different dates have different flaws and some, like the '72-D are pretty easy in choice condition. But even those which are easy in choice can be almost impossible in superb gem.
I've never understood why collectors tend to ignore these. Most collections stop at 1964 and the ones that don't stop at 1958. But the cents really get even more interesting through the '70,'80's, and '90's.
The day will come when they quit ignoring them and then they'll find that many of these are the key to the entire Lincoln series in top grades.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
19942 Posts |
Cladking....finally, someone that sees the light! I was thinking I was alone in the world as I've poured over THOUSANDS of Memorial cents. Completely disrespected and ignored by dealers and collectors because of the low assigned values. As my Memorial cent collection stands today, I wouldn't sell it for $1000. All those BU sets being sold for $20-30 are filled with problem coins, spotted, nicked and abused. Finding coins better than MS63RD is very tough. Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
1450 Posts |
Thanks guys, that is a really big help. I am trying to put together a memorial set from rolls. I am amazed at the quality I am still finding from the early 60's and 70's. I know I don't have near the discerning eye most of you do because I am just starting this odyssey but ther are many truly beautiful specimens(at least pleasing to the eye)I find daily in rolls. I am searching 30-50 rolls a day presently, it will drop off significantly soon. I have always loved the Lincoln cents, there is an elegance in their simplicity. Next to the Walking Liberty half I think the Lincoln Cent is the most beautiful coin we have. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
Quote:"Cladking....finally, someone that sees the light! I was thinking I was alone in the world as I've poured over THOUSANDS of Memorial cents. Completely disrespected and ignored by dealers and collectors because of the low assigned values. As my Memorial cent collection stands today, I wouldn't sell it for $1000. All those BU sets being sold for $20-30 are filled with problem coins, spotted, nicked and abused. Finding coins better than MS63RD is very tough." There might be a few nice coins in the sets you see for 20 or $30 but they will be dates that come nice, not the toughies. I always laugh when I hear about people paying large sums for modern sets that end at 1964. The coins after 1964 are twenty times scarcer usually and cost one twentieth as much. I can't understand why so few people like these coins. I don't mind; it gives me time to look for upgrades. It's hilarious when you hear about people paying huge amounts for an old coin that was saved in huge numbers and comes nice yet he ridicules people who look for moderns which were sometimes not saved and come awful. Then it's a small fraction of the price of the old coin. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
429 Posts |
This brings up a good point, I have noticed through my roll searching how hard it is to find coins from the 70's-80's that I would really want to save. I have actually found more from 59-64 that are in nicer detail than the newer ones. In almost every roll I go through I am amazed how the newer coins are the ones beat up, darker, mangled, etc. more so than the coppers. I thought it was just the area I am in and the people that turn them in so it is nice to hear that it is not just me thinking this.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
Quote:
This brings up a good point, I have noticed through my roll searching how hard it is to find coins from the 70's-80's that I would really want to save. I have actually found more from 59-64 that are in nicer detail than the newer ones. In almost every roll I go through I am amazed how the newer coins are the ones beat up, darker, mangled, etc. more so than the coppers. I thought it was just the area I am in and the people that turn them in so it is nice to hear that it is not just me thinking this. How about that. I was just suggesting the same thing in another thread. The old coins are available because they were saved and the new ones because they're... ...well, new. But the in between ones have been ignored and beaten. This won't matter much for the mid-'70's coins since there are bags and bags of them but the later ones it will because they are horrible in rolls and bags or because few were saved. The '84-D still had a lot of plating problems so these just sort of evaporate even in a BU roll. Mint set coins have extensive tarnish problems and they get worse every year. Rolls are scarce and usually full of rust. Even in circulation this coin has suffered horribly compared to many dates. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
314 Posts |
Those are tough sometimes . I bought an 1988 denver bu roll once and the coins had black spots on them after being in safe for years.
Why do those coins get black spots on them? It seems you cant clean them off. They ruined.
Chevrolet454ss
|
| |
Replies: 9 / Views: 4,538 |
|
Posted 06/16/2008 5:55 pm
