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40s/50s Wheat Cents Most Common?

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Humanist1287's Avatar
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 Posted 04/17/2025  1:08 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add Humanist1287 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Is it just me, or are the wheat cents from the 40's and 50's much more common to find than outside of that?

I have had luck however finding several outside of those date ranges, just not as often. I found a 1910 Wheat cent not too long ago at work in the spare change bin. That was a pleasant surprise.

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ijn1944's Avatar
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 Posted 04/17/2025  1:17 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add ijn1944 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
One factor in play is that of attrition--cents produced early in the lifespan of wheat cents were placed into circulation earlier, hence, a good number have gone 'missing' as the years have played out. Also, the mintage numbers of 40s/50s wheat cents--in aggregate--exceed that of early wheat cents. So yes, it's easier to find wheat cents from later years than early years.
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jbuck's Avatar
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Spence's Avatar
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 Posted 04/17/2025  2:54 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Spence to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
are the wheat cents from the 40's and 50's much more common to find than outside of that?


*Much* more common than wheat cents from the '60s.

Seriously though, I agree that it is a combination of age/wear, preferential saving due to the change in design in 1959, and higher mintages.
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jbuck's Avatar
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 Posted 04/17/2025  4:57 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
*Much* more common than wheat cents from the '60s.
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HondoB's Avatar
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 Posted 04/17/2025  5:50 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add HondoB to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Here is the total mintage by decade for Lincoln Wheat Cents:
1909 - 1919  2,125,708,369
1920 - 1929  1,664,218,000
1930 - 1939  2,214,331,000
1940 - 1949 10,566,921,670
1950 - 1958  9,245,977,454

More than three times as many were minted in the 1940s + 1950s (19.8 billion) than the previous three decades combined (6.00 billion). Add in attrition over time and it's expected that you would find more from these later decades.
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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nickelsearcher's Avatar
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 Posted 04/17/2025  7:45 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add nickelsearcher to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Yep - much more common for all the reasons stated.
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jbuck's Avatar
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187446 Posts
 Posted 04/18/2025  10:55 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jbuck to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Here is the total mintage by decade for Lincoln Wheat Cents:
Thank you.

I fixed your table to make it easier to read.
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