Just how rare is the 1970-S small date Lincoln cent? I just got a call from a customer who claims to have a whole roll of them. Is this feasible? What would you offer for them if they are legit, with the small date, high 7. thanks........
Well, gee whiz, that is my plan! Duh! Customer said they would call me back in a day or two. Haven't met them yet! Now, can I get a good answer? Has anyone found an entire roll of these? thanks.........
If all BU, the general price guide I use says $2,650 for one roll, but that's just an estimate. Maybe $2,500 to use a nice round number.
According to Coinflation, it's really unknown exactly how many small date 1970-S' were struck. Just make sure you know what the small date looks like and don't fall for any ridiculous statements from the seller, if they show up that is. Here's a link that may be helpful in identifying the small date from the large date: http://www.lincolncentresource.com/smalldates/1970Ssmalldate.html
How do you know he owns, or works in a coinshop? He never stated that at all in his first post, only that a customer called about a roll of 1970-S small date Lincolns. He was also asking if anyone thinks it's possible that anyone could have a roll of these as opposed to individual ones. What he got was one answer that was not only not helpful, but rather rude, IMHO.
@James, Why did you even reply if you weren't going to answer his questions or contribute anything to this thread?
The fella asked a simple question yet you chose to give him a smart alec answer. What else did you expect?
Yes, I have been offered a roll, but many were not BU as described due to minor wear, probably taken from circulation. At that time. But in fairness, probably half were nice. This was about 20 yrs ago. I could be wrong, but maybe he wanted $500-600 and I only went $400 as they were not as collected as now. But also rolls make it harder to judge the value as most of the time,if you can't inspect each one carefully. Also, it is easy to mistake them if one doesn't have a good lens and light, and once in your hands, if you find more than half are mis-identified, good luck in getting your customer to believe and trust that you are correct and that they are the same cents.
Thanks to all for your help. My apologies to Mr. Wolfe if I asked what you thought was a dumb question. I thought the only dumb question was the one that wasn't asked. Thanks to the understanding ones of you out there. No, I do not work for or own a coin shop. I'm just an individual trying to learn a few things about the 1970-S small date Lincoln. I did place my first ad ever in the local paper that I would like to buy coins, and got my first ever response. I am a novice at all this, and about as green as they come. If you note the number of posts I've made on this forum, you'll see just how new I am. So, my first caller was about these small date Lincolns. I appreciate the link to the site with the photos of the varieties. Now, I'll know what I'm looking at if the caller does indeed call back. I hope they do. Thanks for the enlightenment. Best Regards to all..........
There are "lots"of rolls of these. Most are stripped from mint sets where they appear with about a 10.1% frequency. You need only about 500 original 1970 mint sets to put together a whole roll. I did see an original roll once back in the day. These were probably pulled out of a bag. Now I sure wish I had offered the seller $50 because I'm sure he'd have taken it. The main reason I passed was I saw what happened to the '60-P and D sm dts and wasn't so sure the same wouldn't happen to the '70. Also almost all of these come from mint sets so most of quite choice if they aren't corroded by now. These were just run of the mill and the mint sets could still be found with the sm dt cent for no premium. I did luck into a fantastic gem years before this occurred so sort of felt I had the date "covered" as well. Nice choice '70-S sm dts used to be exceedingly common in the mint sets but now most of the mint sets are cherry picked and the few that are seen tend to be full price and have at least minor spotting. A nice choice original roll without problems is probably worth a premium. I would pass on a roll of all problem coins. For some reason this same coin has a really neat S/ S that appears in about 15% of mint sets and gets almost no attention. This coin comes even nicer than the small date, too. The coin seems to just go up every year. So long as people consider it a part of the collection there should be a little room for growth yet. With fewer than a quarter million around and half of them unattractive it's about the same spread in grade as the '31-S cent but significantly scarcer. I especially like gems for price appreciation. Don't overpay though since they did come nice.
$2500 for a roll? so i should charge 60 each in trades for other coins? that sound about right for uncirc red?
To the OP of course its possible, but follow Reagan's wisdom, trust but verify. Lots of whole rolls show up. I knew a guy with 2 rolls of circulated 1877 cents. I knew another with about 50 rolls of circulated FE cents, (bought from someone who just loved FE cents apparently). I myself have half a roll of circulated 27s quarter for no apparent reason. The 70s SD was pulled out at the time by dealers from bags, (or at least I heard). BU rolls used to be in many dealer stocks. Remember, S mint cents were all of the rage at the time, so a great number of them left the mint directly into dealer possession. When they heard there was two varieties, they naturally went to their bags and sorted them out.
For the money, I sure as heck would go over every coin. When I bought a BU roll of 39d nickels, I went over every coin to make sure it was a 39d and it was BU. Never trust a seller who won't let you look at every coin in a roll if they are selling for over $1 per coin.
all are in mint uncirculated red condition. he sealed them in a tube in 1970 and i opened them the day before yesterday.
