Question About Production Of Zincolns During The 1980-S

BadThad- Thanks! That makes a lot of sense. So does this mean that, in general, zincolns from this time with mediocre luster are considered the norm within a set of BU LCMs?

IMO, yes. The coating is so bad and rough, the luster is greatly subdued. I have to look at them under magnification before I decide whether to cull them. I'm often surprized, at first glace they look dirty and worn, then under mag I see they are actually clean and BU. I'm dreaming of popping open a roll and finding one with cartwheel luster. LOL

Nice Lincolns from the later dates will be tough in the future. The zinc coins do not survive well and the early dates tended to be very poorly made. This results in not only gaps and bubbles in the plating which assures they won't survive but they are very unattractive. The '84 issues have a very rough surface because most dies went into service this way possibly in an attempt to rectify the problem with plating.

The biggest problems will be on the '82 to '84 coins and to a lesser extent the '85. By the end of the decade the problem was largely solved at least for the Denver issues and at least for the mint set cents. It is the mint set coins which will assure that some of these dates are available. Don't get me wrong, some of these are very tough in very high grade in the mint sets too but dates like the '88-D are typically gem in the sets and superb coins are available.

By the same token mint sets aren't the answer to the problem since the '82 and '83 were not made and most of the nicest '89-D's have the metal scraped right off the lettering on the reverse.

Collectors just need to do what always came naturally until the modern era; go look.

Ya' never know what your gonna see till you look.

Indeed!

Mint sets are not the answer to every question concerning moderns as some seem to believe. There are some coins that simply don't come nice in the mint sets and you'll just have to try to find rolls. And, of course, there are a lot of issues that don't appear in the sets at all.

The mint set coins are more carefully made from new dies but they often get mangled before they get into the sets. Some of the quality in these sets is just simply abysmal. The very worst is probably the '76 type I. These are just covered in planchet scratches under a layer of gouges and scrapes and more scratches.

But for the main part finding gems in the mint sets is like shooting fish in a barrel. Even coins that come horrible can usually be in gem with persistence. All of the cents except the '82 and '83 issues made since 1965 can be found as superb gems in the sets though some are very tough and some are tough even in typical gem or near-gem. Dates like the '79-D or '84-D are very very elusive. The '72-S can be almost impossible too if you want a really sharp strike.

Even ten or twenty years ago there was a growing problem with corrosion on the mint set coins. It certainly hasn't improved but there are still many coins that are pristine.