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 Replies: 30 / Views: 3,610 |
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Pillar of the Community
527 Posts |
I've been getting a lot more of these in my spare change as of late, despite them only being minted since 2010. Perhaps one day, those Lincoln Memorial cents will become as scarce as Lincoln Wheat cents are. How long do you think it will take for the Lincoln Memorial cents to start becoming scarce?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2200 Posts |
A quick calculation shows me that approximately 500 billion Memorial cents have been minted thus far. That's half a trillion. With the US population at 310 million, that's 1600 Memorial cents for every current American--whether they collect them or not. I don't think you have to worry about the Memorial cent becoming scarce any time soon. Edited by jpsned
07/19/2011 8:41 pm
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Valued Member
United States
497 Posts |
Well I don't think the LMC will become rare in any of our times. They have minted so many and minted more LMC than wheaties. Perhaps if copper does well in 50 years your hoarded copper pennies may be wanted for scrap but other than that I don't think or see the memorial to be worth anything more than a penny/melt. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
That was probably the thought about wheat cents too, but now even common ones are worth more than their metal content.
Zincolns in nice condition without any bubbling or severe corrosion may become scarce in 30-40 years too, just for the fact that ones 20 years old are already falling apart.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1151 Posts |
I don't think that they will become rare but personally I hate the new shield cents.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2200 Posts |
I agree. You combine a bland design with a coin that now weighs almost nothing, and it feels like you just picked it out of a Cracker Jack box. (And even Cracker Jack used to have better prizes!)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4132 Posts |
I like the shield design. The simplicity of the design reflects the infinitesimal value of the denomination.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
I like it as well. IMO it's better than the memorial reverse.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
543 Posts |
This is a great question! A question that I have asked myself multiple times already. It is true that more LMC cents exist than LWC, but neither of them are rare. People just hold onto the Wheats more than the Memorials. A question to add is how long did it take for the Wheats to get hoarded away? 10 years? 20 years? I am eager to know around what time Wheat cents, when found, were immediately put aside by most people. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10029 Posts |
Quote:
A quick calculation shows me that approximately 500 billion Memorial cents have been minted thus far With large numbers being mentioned all over the news today (debt!), we do not appreciate just how big some of these quantities are. I was sparked by this quote to share some info that I used to share with my math students. You can never count to a billion in your lifetime. Why? B/c one billion seconds is 33 1/3 years! This means 33 1/3 years of continual counting - not sleeping/eating/et cetera. Now if you wanted to waste your entire life counting, and have the means to be taken care of (food/shelter/basic needs), you might be able to count that far. But you would take probably 55-60 years to get it all done (understanding you will need some time to sleep each 24 hour period). This also means a person will never search through 1 billion pennies in their lifetime. If we talk of one billion minutes ago, we are in the time period of Jesus walking the earth! Seeing as how there were 500 billion LMCs made - and understanding how much a billion is (well - getting an idea - we cannot really understand such a large number in our minds) - there may be one or two spare LMCs left in circulation for quite some time to come! edited for wording - I'm tired and found my initial post confusing!  Edited by Earle42
07/20/2011 12:55 am
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Valued Member
United States
493 Posts |
Not enough people are going to want to hoard them for some time. Maybe if copper prices go up and up, and the melt values increase, more hoarding of the coins could occur.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1547 Posts |
Quote:
I've been getting a lot more of these in my spare change as of late, despite them only being minted since 2010. Perhaps one day, those Lincoln Memorial cents will become as scarce as Lincoln Wheat cents are. How long do you think it will take for the Lincoln Memorial cents to start becoming scarce? TheDanMan, what are your thoughts on that very perplexing question? |
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Valued Member
United States
417 Posts |
Grandson is already saving LMC's from the 60's "cause they are over 50 years old and that's old". |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I like the shield design allot better than the memorial design. I have never liked the memorial design though. At least now the cent is right along with all the other coins you find in your pocket where it doesn't have the same president on both sides of the coin
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Valued Member
United States
406 Posts |
I remember when I was a kid in the 1970s, the Memorial reverse was less than 20 years old and already Wheat cents were pretty darn rare in circulation. I'd suspect that we will really start to see Memorial cents disappear from circulation around the time that a generation comes up that doesn't remember when they were the only cent reverse that was really in circulation. 15 years from now, when there are a lot more Shield cents in circulation than there are now, I suspect that Memorial cents will start to disappear... but it will take a while before a Memorial will be a rare sight in change like a Wheat is now, just because of the sheer massive amount of them that are out there.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1151 Posts |
I have already been hoarding my copper cents for a while now.
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Replies: 30 / Views: 3,610 |
Posted 07/19/2011 8:13 pm
