On another thread, a poster basically asked what was a certain Matte Proof Lincoln cent that he was interested in worth. The thread eventually turned into a strong discussion/debate on whether a coin is
worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. There are a lot of quality opinions on both sides of this argument which you can read here:
http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t56247-4/#post635779
However, I thought I'd start a separate thread relating to discussions and opinions specifically on the value of Matte Proof Lincolns. Let me start by highly recommending the newly published book "Lincoln Cent Matte Proofs" by Kevin Flynn. It is the most informative and comprehensive book I have seen on Matte Proof Lincoln cents and anyone interested in MPL's should get this book and read every page.
First, here are the mintage struck figures for MPLs:
1909 vdb - 1,194*
1909 - 2,618
1910 - 4,083
1911 - 2,411
1912 - 2,372
1913 - 2,983
1914 - 1,365
1915 - 1,150
1916 - 600*
*As most know, even though the 1916 shows a much lower mintage than the 1909 vdb, for various reasons the 1909 vdb is considered the most rare with the lowest survival rate of all the MPL's, thereby making its value or sales figures much higher than any other MPL.
These mintages are pretty amazingly low, don't you think? You can see how truly rare MPL's are, and I don't think these low mintage figures are common knowledge among the general coin public, so MPL's have gone under-appreciated for quite a while. Another reason for their lack of popularity is their "matte-ness," if you will. They have such a granular surface instead of the mirror-like finish generally associated with proofs that many people simply don't like them.
It has been only in the last few years that MPL's have gained in popularity, and I'm guessing the PCGS registry system has had something to do with their increasing popularity.
In any event, here's what I'm curious about - what are they worth to you as a collector? What criteria do you mostly use to base your value of these coins - mintage, past auction figures, eye appeal, toning, redness, grade, what holder it's in, surface quality, etc.? Most would say, all of the above, but what is the most important guage you personally use or would use in buying an MPL?
For me, eye appeal is the foremost attribute I use in judging most any coin, but especially an MPL, for purchase, both as a collector and as a dealer. Below is my 1916 MPL (PCGS PF65 BN) which has everything I personally look for in a coin, but most of all it has great eye appeal to me. Even though it is a brown coin, it has very pretty underlying colors and a super crisp flawless surface. If you've seen many of the other coins I collect, you will usually see that my coins have eye appealing toning.
Most of you know I sell MPL's, and I'm truly not trying to sell you one of my MPL's - I'm just trying to get a discussion going, based on the prior thread, on what you all think about these rare Lincolns.
