Favorite variety

Robert · Senior Member

Just wondering what your favorite Lincoln Cent variety is. This can be a specific coin or a class of variety (RPM, DD, etc). It doesn't necessarily have to be a well-known or expensive one, nor does it have to be one you own.

I'll go first. At present, I personally like the 1955 proof DDR. This is because I cherried it (along with 2 other coins) without any external help. No books, no advice. I knew what I was looking at as soon as I saw the "egg shaped" dots on the reverse. The reverse winked at me, big as day. It was great!

That's a $25+ coin I bought as a proof single.

Ain't varieties great! Thanks Chuck!

Honorable mentions:

My favorite non-Lincoln copper variety is the 1857 FE cent w/ die clash from a Seated Quarter. It's a dramatic, identifiable die variety with a very low population (I imagine). Plus it's old. Lots of things I like about that coin.

My favorite non-copper US variety is a tie. I have two quarters that I think are quadruple-punched mint marks. Serif city.

My favorite foreign coin variety is either my Australian cent (1952?) that appears to be a doubled die. I have also seen a German 50 pfennig coin that had one heck of a doubled die spread. I remember thinking that the spread was greater than that of the famous 55 DDO but I could be having a slightly overactive imagination.

My favorite class of variety is the RPM, though DDs are starting to get close.

Your turn.

coppercoins · Site Admin

Robert - Your 55 proof DDR is worth well over $50, possibly up to $150...depends on its exact grade. Lee set me straight on that after you left the show. My idea was that it might go $50-$75, but I didn't figure $150. Just thought you would like to know.

My "favorite", since I'm sentimental, is 1958D-1MM-001 because it was the first RPM I ever found. I had the coin in my collection for many years before discovering it as an RPM. I just started learning about RPMs in 1996 and checked through my stuff. Up until that time I had assumed that doubled dies were all that was worth looking for, and the few mintmark varieties people had mentioned were all there was (like the 1944D/S). Since 1996 I have leaned toward RPMs as a specialty, and have found quite a number of them - but that old 1958D RPM is where I got the "awakening".

GarryN · Expert Member

My favorite variety is the 1955 Doubled Die. It has some sentimental value for me. It was the first coin that caught my attention when my mom took me shopping to downtown Chicago past a coin shop on the way to Marshall Fields. It was only in 3 figures then! Its one of the coins that got me interested in coin collecting. I have owned two. I had a MS62BN for a while and traded it in for my current example, which is MS64RB. I would call it 85% brown and 15 percent red. I also have a 1972 DDO in MS65 red, and 3 1995 DDOs. Since then I have found various varieties of other coins that have interested me, such as the 3 Legged Buffalo Nickel. I have an AU55 example that is in my MSN link. I also have 3 varieties of the 1880-CC dollar and 2 varieties of the 1878 8TF dollar. One 1878 is the VAM 18, which is a doubled die obverse and the other is the VAM 9, which is the first die combination struck in March 1878. The VAM 18 is MS63 and the VAM 9 is XF45. One thing about varieties is that they really are the catalyst that support interest in the hobby. You can own a Registry set of Lincolns or a Registry set of Indians, or a set of DMPL dollars but they all look the same. Its the little variations that are the story, the history, behind the coins.

Bob P · Site Admin

I guess my favorites are those that weren't known of at all until I sent them to Chuck to have a look at. It is interesting to think that I may have been the first to find these varieties, or at least have them attributed. They are a 1928P Lincoln tripled eyelid (coppercoins 1928P-1DO-001) that I actually received in change in GERMANY of all places. This coin also has strong die clash marks, where even the word PLURIBUS can be seen on the truncation of the bust., and two class four 1942 P Lincolns I found many years ago with strong doubling on the center elements of the reverse (Coppercoins 1942P-1DR-001, and 1942P-1DR-002). The coins are circulated, but all were pretty obvious, at least to me. Nothing like finding a nice unknown variety on coins that are 75 and 60 years old respectively. Just goes to show that the chance of many unknown varieties being discovered, even on very old coins, is still a real possibility.

Bob P

Robert · Senior Member

Hey Chuck... since my proof 1955 DDR is special, would you be able to take a picture of it so I can use it as my avatar? Put it in the gallery. You don't have a "reverse" avatar yet anyway...

Very Happy

coppercoins · Site Admin

Sure Robert...I'll try my best to get to it this weekend. I have to set up and do some photography this weekend anyway.

Gabe · Senior Member

Hmm.... my favorite variety has to be 1960-d 1MM-021, since it is the first RPM that I found in a roll. I had found 3 pieces that day, and today only own one. The RPM is amazing, and it can be seen with the naked eye.

coop · Expert Member

One of my favorite RPMs is one I found a few in a roll of. It was in a roll of 1949-D's. It is 1949D-1MM-002.
http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/coop49/1949D_1MM_002_North_South.jpg
Its' lower serif makes you think you are seeing double with the North and South visible there.