Once You've Read This Thread, Your Ideas About Coins Will Change.

'Legendary' 1955 Lincoln, Doubled Die Obverse cent turns heads at Rarities Night.

By Steve Roach , Coin World
Published : 04/03/18


A 1955 Lincoln, Doubled Die Obverse cent graded PCGS MS-65+ with a green CAC sticker sold for a massive $114,000 at Stack's Bowers' March 22 Rarities Night auction.
Images courtesy of Stack's Bowers Galleries.

The ESM Collection of Lincoln Cents led the March 22 Rarities Night auction by Stack's Bowers Galleries at the Whitman Baltimore Expo. Pete Miller's collection was the current and all-time finest set of Lincoln Cents with Major Varieties in the Professional Coin Grading Service Set Registry. The collection's top lot was one of just three known 1958 Lincoln, Doubled Die Obverse cents, this piece graded PCGS Mint State 64 red, that brought $336,000. A 1969-S Lincoln, Doubled Die Obverse cent graded PCGS MS-64 red with a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker realized $126,000.

These weren't the only stars, and here is another that stood out:

The Lot:

1955 Lincoln, Doubled Die Obverse Cent, MS-65+ Red, green CAC sticker.

The Price:

$114,000

The Story:

Among doubled die Lincoln cents, the 1955 Lincoln, Doubled Die Obverse cent is legendary, with doubling visible to the naked eye. This example, graded Mint State 65+ red and bearing a green CAC sticker, is the finest example graded by PCGS with full Mint red color; it sold for a hearty $114,000. An estimated 24,000 examples were produced, of which around 3,000 to 4,000 survive today. Surprisingly, a press inspector at the Philadelphia Mint discovered the variety, but allowed the coins to be released anyway. As Stack's Bowers writes, "There was no thought that these would have any special value, as at that time there was hardly any numismatic interest in what we call Mint errors today."

There are multiple varieties of 1955 Lincoln, DDO cents and this one — cataloged as FS-101 in CherryPickers' Guide to Rare Die Varieties — is the strongest.

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I came across this while trying to re-find the population information for the 1955 DD cent I "thought" I'd seen awhile back.. Just felt like something most would take a gander, so I tacked it on as the lead..

Coop: I couldn't find that info, sorry.. Under normal circumstances this would be an apology, but since the numbers I implied earlier this week are much closer to yours than those stated in the articles and on the web sites I've recently been checking, I'm not exactly sure what this is..

It's now apparent I was recalling that long-ago supposed 20K - 40K production run as 200K - 400K units, which fits much better with the die states you describe that're available out there for everyone to see than the mint-released numbers and their inability to align themselves along the known-to-exist wear-and-tear axis..

Why they insist on continuing to do silly stuff like that is beyond me.. One would think they must be purt tired by now of getting caught out over n over n overrr...........

Swamp