A very special honor...

[coppercoins]

I have been asked to write the foreword to the new Whitman book on Lincoln cents entitled, The Official Red Book of Lincoln Cents, by Q. David Bowers. I just finished writing it, and think it is worth sharing with my closest friends; you folks here at the forum. It will provide a bit of insight as to how I got started and how I ended up where I am today. It has not yet been approved for final publication in its current form, so it may be changed a bit before it goes into the book. Enjoy..

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Most collectors living today begin their numismatic life-story with the Lincoln cent. In fact, almost everyone I tell of my passion and career studying the Lincoln cent returns in conversation with a story about a jar of “wheat backs” they have from their grandfather, or of the “penny folder” they started filling as a ten year-old. Most of these same people have no idea that a person can earn a living studying, writing about, and selling “pennies.”

Fact is, the Lincoln cent is to credit for nearly a third of the coins the United States has ever minted. In recent times the mintage of Lincoln cents has reached more than five billion per year – nearly as many as the mintage of all the other circulating coins combined. They have also been the lowest denomination coin minted in this country since their beginning in 1909. Given these facts alone, it is easy to see why most collectors, myself included, began with the Lincoln cent. They are plentiful and inexpensive to pull from pocket change, and even today the lucky hunter can still find some of the earliest examples in circulation.

As many collectors reach adulthood and their budgets expand, they often find other numismatic interests and move away from their childhood “penny folders.” Why did I not “graduate” into the Morgan dollars, or Liberty gold coins? I found at a young age that specializing in something specific was far more rewarding than trying to generalize in everything, especially on a tight budget. By the time I moved on from grade school, I had already gained quite a bit of knowledge in the Lincoln cent (along with thousands of examples to study), yet every time I learned something new about this lowly and under-respected coin I realized that there was still so much more to learn.

One particular event changed my zeal for collecting Lincoln cents. Due to the rising price of copper, the Mint changed the composition of the Lincoln cent to copper plated zinc in 1982. I was fourteen, and spent countless hours in my bedroom sorting the new cents I purchased at the bank (and dug out of my mother’s purse) by date size and metal type. I found that dropping each of the metal types on a table made different pitches of sound, and was able to assemble roll after roll of each type. That project began what would end up being a hoard of hundreds of rolls of uncirculated cents, which I still use today in my study of the series.

While most teen-agers had after-school employment for extra money to hang around at the mall, I found a job at the local gas station just to have the opportunity to search the coins coming into the register. All the silver I purchased at face value went to the local coin dealer for smelt so I could purchase better examples of the earlier Lincoln cents. I kept up with the coin market using a Red Book and the spot value of silver using the daily newspaper and played the metals game before I was of legal age to vote. My studying paid off well--my first uncirculated 1931-S cent cost me less than ten dollars (at a market value of over $80 at the time) with the help of a 1932-S quarter for which I paid 25 cents out of the gas station register.

By the time I left the U.S. Air Force in 1996, I had already been specializing in the Lincoln cent for nearly half my life, and was still learning more about them with every coin examined, dealer visited, and book read. My collection had grown to thousands of coins and hundreds of rolls of nearly every date and mint available, and was beginning to branch outward into the world of die varieties. With limited printed resources at hand, it was time to start exploring other avenues of learning about coins.

I found the internet in 1997 with the purchase of my first computer and found that information on the Lincoln cent in cyberspace was very sadly lacking at the time. I decided to learn how to write programming code for the internet and to decided to build a website dedicated to the study of Lincoln cents. That decision would change my life. In part due to a need for a more robust solution for my website, and also in part due to a perfectionist hunger for information, I ended up attending college and attaining a degree in internet development. I graduated college in 2004 with honors; and I had only been looking for a better solution to further my study of the Lincoln cent and publish my findings on the internet. That publication, www.coppercoins.com, has since become the largest pool of die variety information assembled in one place on the internet for the Lincoln cent specialist.
Through the years of learning and reading numismatic information, I would often see the same names over again when browsing magazine advertisements looking for my next numismatic literature purchase. The names Q. David Bowers, Kenneth Bressett, and David Lange often entered my mind when I thought of numismatic literature and the people who wrote it. Mr. Bowers, however, seemed to be an especially busy author, having written dozens of books. I often thought of what an honor it would be to meet this man and gain from his expertise by asking him what he knew about Lincoln cents. Well, now I have my wish with this book, as well as the special privilege and honor of writing this foreword.

The Lincoln cent is an ever-evolving sub-market within the growing field of numismatics. With its wide value swings for higher grade earlier pieces and thousands of documented die varieties, this series has something to offer every collector from novice to expert. This book provides collectors with a unique insight into the longest running series of coins in United States history with its detailed facts and figures as well as notes, contemporary articles, and other documentation assembled by the most prolific numismatic author in our lifetime.

In reading through the chapters of this work I have found again that no matter how much a person knows about a subject there is always someone else who can shed new light on that subject. Mr. Bowers has done just that for me, and I am sure you will enjoy as I have the half-century of numismatic expertise written between these red covers.


Charles D. Daughtrey
Springfield, Missouri

[Doug]

Congratulations Chuck on a well deserved honor writing this "foreward".

I'm curious though, what you consider worthwhile on this new publication? Your credentials are an absolute given but.. the "foreward" left me wondering what this new book has to offer and your opinions on it's content.

[Robert]

Outstanding! It's a great honor and you certainly deserve it.

It's interesting that your beginning in coins is so very similar to mine. I wonder how many other collectors will say the same?

[Dick]

Congratulations, Chuck! I think that "foreward" should be used, "VERBATEM".
I am honored to be part of your forum!
Dick