1974 P, D & S type 1 and type 2 cents

[joeyuk]

I picked up a set of these coins. I realize neither is scarce but I wanted an attributed set to reference when searching rolls. I was curious what peoples thoughts were on this e-bay sellers item description. Specifically the claim the die changes were made to accomodate the softer metal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=524&item=3973596713

[errorfinder]

been out of numismatics for a long while .however iam remebering the 1974 aluminum cent 'reality' clearly as being a truth..makes sense that different dies were created for the softer metals..including the brass (bronze) compisition..see your desire in regards to having physical referance material on hand for comparison as UseFull..though not absolutely nessary..convient..yes

[coppercoins]

I can tell you the price is WAY steep. I sell the 6 coin sets in BU for $5 including shipping. The story goes that the dies were changed to accomodate the aluminum, then used for the brass cents when the aluminum idea was scrapped.

Some additional rumors have it that all of one type or the other were minted in West Point, but I've never seen anything supporting this idea. The photographs I have seen of the aluminum cent was a large date, but that doesn't necessarily mean all 250,000 plus examples were minted with the large date dies, and it certainly doesn't mean that all the large date coins thereafter were minted in West Point, the known test site of the aluminum coins.

Anyhow, none of the six are scarce, all are known to exist in bags, and thousands of rolls are still available of each. The only reason I'm at $5 for a set is the time it takes me to put them together and market them, then the shipping cost. I'm making a whole $2 per set....but anything over $10 is gouging.