Are Nice 2009 Lincolns Hard To Find?

A few scratched coins, or several, in a new roll of 50 is not unexpected. As a seller I would probably not sell the scratched ones. BUT, there have been some QC issues lately from the mint. Remember, these coins are meant for circulation, not albums. The spotting has been an issue also. And there have been plenty more with spotting issues than scratch issues. You must have seen posts here regarding these issues. There have been quite a few.

There have been posts about these same issues, particularly spotting, with proofs also. I've gotten kinda lucky in that coins that I've purchased, from ebay, have been of mostly good quality, but it's a crapshoot. I think you might have better luck with the proofs. In theory, the best coins should come from the 2 roll boxed mint set Lincolns. $8.95 plus shipping. Unless specifically stated in an auction, you are getting coins from circulation rolls and not the 2 roll boxed set rolls.

Your best bet would be to buy a roll and cherrypick the best coins for your collection, then sell the rest. Or throw them to kids in the street on Saturday afternoon!

Steve

No not really, All I have to do is open up my desk drawer. I have started finding a few in bank rolls as of late that are in very nice condition. I don't keep them though because I was lucky enough to get boxes of them last year and trade some P 4 D here on the forum.

I bought the set of 2009 S cameo for 20.00 Beautiful coins...

Check your local coin shop...

Lori

My nics don't come in till tomorrow (20 boxes), so I've been getting cents. I pull about 30 '09 keepers per box.

Interesting. So this seller really is selling me the poor ones of the group... That's what I figured by looking at it, but then the seller seemed so kind in his responses and the way he (she?) handled it.

Oh well, good learning experience. =)

Whytlash, I did search but didn't find anything immediately, which led me to be suspicious. I'm kinda new to this "modern" forum - I've spent a lot more time on the classic. I'll be more vigilant in my search next time.

Thank you, everyone, for your help!

Welcome to the world of modern Lincolns!

I'm sure your coins were straight from BU rolls. For $3, that's what you're going to get. If you want gem grade quality coins, you're going to have to search for them individually. You can't expect that from a "packaged set". The only way to put together a HQ set from 1959 up is to do it one coin at a time.

I'm quickly discovering a completely blemish-free zinc cent is a decent find no matter what year.

Going through the latest box I tossed 2 2009 LP's due to spots. Otherwise have been pretty lucky with 2009-10 (my experience will always favor P mint due to locale). It's the 2008s that have been really bad and finding one without spots on an otherwise BU example is about 1 in 10.

The 2007s are much better with spots but seem to find them in 2 distinct finishes, one with almost proof-like shine to the fields and one that looks like the entire die was steel-wooled. Not entirely clear on the satin finish coins anyway but it surprises me to see them with seemingly 2 distinct finishes.

BadThad confirms my suspicions that if one were to buy a mint roll believing they are holding a roll of practically perfect examples then prepare to be disappointed. For me zinc cents more than anything else have quickly demonstrated to the mission of the cherry-picker.

You have not even started your lincoln collection till you try to put together a set of high grade lincolns 83 to present, the lack of quality of these coins makes anything above a 67 from the circulation strike coins a true rarity.

as a piece of advice, its better at least in my opinion to buy rolls when and where you can find them and do the cherry picking yourself.

If you ask around at the banks you could possible come up with some unopened boxes.