I have a question about Lincoln cents that are contained in United States Mint Sets. I just got a small group of Lincolns still in the cello from 1968 to 1994 P&D from eBay. A number of them are quite spotty and some even a good bit of contact marks even though they are uncirculated. How much of a factor is this value wise? The spottiness doesn't look very attractive.
I don't think spotted ones are worth much. Mint set coins sometimes have less bag marks than coins from rolls.
From my own observations the 72-s and 74-s are often spotty in rolls (maybe due to the rinse they used?) then the 82-89 zincs were often spotty from bad plating but the ones in mint sets (from 80s) were often nicer and better struck (often have high rims) than what I see in rolls.
I'm more eager to pick up memorials in rolls since they're cheap enough (often a few $ roll) that for the cost of a few singles equals the cost of rolls. The mint set coins that might be worth getting are the 80s with nice finish and high rims because the normal ones are so ugly spotty, bumpy.
Other folks might have different thoughts on this, I can only say from what I've seen. _________________ Ed
Maybe I was wrong thinking I would get better coins from mint sets based on the mediocre quality coins I got. The seller should have stated there was a lot of spotting and contact marks.
The best coins are from the mint sets but, unfortunately, they can be quite scarce in the sets. Some dates are exceedingly easy to find as gems in these sets. Cents like the '88-D is typically choice gem or better. But other dates can leave you wondering if the best coins are really in the sets. Dates like the '79-D are really tough. Then the '68-P no longer comes nice in the sets because every single example has carbon spots. It's ironic that this date is the first to be gone since these were one of the easiest to find in superb and pristibne unc back when the mint sets were first issued. The '84-D and '93-D are close on its heels. The best '89-D's will be garbage before too long because sharply struck examples have the copper sheathing pulled off the reverse lettering.
Generally about 2% of mint set coins come extremely nice but this runs a little higher for the cents in most dates and a lot higher for the zinc issues. Indeed so many zincs are gem that they are excluded from that 2% estimate. _________________ Tempus fugit.
