The Storied 1931-S Lincoln Cent

(from the history vault of the Society of Lincoln Cent Collectors)

In the April, 2005 issue of THE NUMISMATIST, author David W. Lange featured the 1931S cent. Not only is it the second lowest mintage of any regular coin in the series, it has a fascinating history. It happens also to be the only coin this author (Sol Taylor) never found in circulation in completing his Lincoln cent set. He had to buy a BU specimen (used ones were not to be seen at the time) from dealer Albert Fastove in Brooklyn in 1940 for 45 cents. It was later learned that those BU 1931S cents were sold to Fastove by Abe Kosoff a few weeks earlier at 35 cents a coin.

In the Lange story he mentions the fact that speculators and dealers knew of the low mintage and socked away rolls and even bags of the new coins. The famous Scharlack hoard (believed to have been sold by Utah dealer Norman Schultz) contained 200,000 coins—almost one fourth the total mintage.

In 1935 Schultz sold a sack of $20 face value to a lawyer in San Francisco for 40 cents each. In 1936 the lawyer sold them back for 30 cents each due to the Great Depression and the cash flow shortage.

Today, low grade 1931S are much harder to find than BU coins, since very few ever got to be used for commercial purposes or spent by the speculators who bought them back in 1931 or 1932. Abe Kosoff told this author in 1980 that around 1940 he was offered rolls of BU 1931S cents by Ohio dealer Sol Kaplan at $15 a roll and in a trade wound up with ten rolls. He got rid of them as fast as he could for $17.50 a roll. I would have to conclude that decision was later met with much regret!