103 Days of Lincoln Cents

Large Date - 67R Small Date - 67R

 

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Interesting 1960D Small Date that I picked up in the past

 

1960 LD PR66RB



1960 SD Raw Proof. On the way to PCGS



1960 LD over SD PCGS PR67RD



1960 SD over LD PCGS PR67RD

 

Alright, I can finally join in for a day!



Annnnd..... I'm out!

 

60

 

Obverse photo taken: don't remember
Reverse : a few minutes ago

 

The Anomaly of 1961 (for colorfully-toned Proof Lincolns).

The year 1961 is "The Goldmine Year" for colorfully-toned Proof Lincolns. If you are looking for a Proof Lincoln with knock your socks off color, focus on the year 1961. Here are just a few of the colorfully toned examples I have found from that anomalous year.









Shown below is a bar chart showing the number of PCGS graded Brown (BN) Proof Lincolns from 1936-1975. Brown (BN) graded Proof Lincolns show less than 5% original mint-red color; and is the color category most rich with wildly colorful examples. Note that this chart was computed from PCGS Census Reports in late March 2012, and these numbers will change over time.

Shown in the center of the chart is the anomalous year of 1961, a veritable "goldmine" of colorful Brown (BN) graded Mirror Proof Lincolns. The tall blue bar represents 37 BN graded slabed Proof Lincolns in year 1961, far outnumbering any other year by a long shot, especially those years surrounding 1961, from 1950 to 1975.

What you would have expected to see in this chart is an exponential decline of BN graded Proof Lincolns, with larger numbers to the left of the chart (for the older dates) and smaller numbers to the right (for the more recent dates). This expected result should have occurred because older dated coins have had more years exposed to the enviroment (and more years to change colors from the mint fresh copper color). Of course 1961 sticks out like a sore thumb on the chart! One theory that I came up with is that perhaps there were trace impurities in the copper alloy used in 1961 that caused them to turn vibrant colors (I have seen many vibrantly colored 1961 proof lincolns inside the original (still sealed) mint cello packaging). However, one fly in the ointment for that theory is that I did not find a spike in colorfully toned Mint State (Business Strike) 1961's (only in the Proofs was there a spike in the populations). So then I am left with one possible remaining theory, that there was something about the Proof Set cello packaging in 1961 that led to many more colorful examples. Either impurities in the cello packaging -- or perhaps improper seals between the coins, or between the plastic mint button and the coins, or between the environment and the coins inside the cello.

It is interesting to note that there were "mini-spikes" in colorfully toned BN graded Lincolns in the year before and after 1961. The years 1960 and 1962 also showed a smaller spike in color, but it was not nearly as pronounced as the year 1961. So whatever was going on in 1961, seems to have spilled over somewhat into the previous and the following year -- perhaps starting in Nov/Dec 1960 and ending in Feb/Mar 1962. The question now is "What?".

 

1961 NGC MS66 RD Obv and rev and 1961D NGC MS67 obv and rev

 

61

 

My small hoard of colorful 1961's.

 

Awesome display robec

 

MS67R

All those wonderfully toned '61's are amazing. I had no idea that this one year produced such a large number. Can anyone offer an explanation or speculation why?
The frequency graph cited by WingedLiberty and Robec's display all point toward a minting anomoly. I would love to know what it is.

Don

 

It could be due to the way the planchets were polished and prepared.

 

could be, badthad. whatever it was it probably started in nov 1960 and finished by feb 1962 or so. it seems to have affected the lincolns the most, however I have also seen some wonderfully toned jeffersons from that era, though it's harder to track toning through the jefferson slab counts, since nickel toning is not marked by the special color notation in the slab records.

 

1961

 

1961 igc

 

1961 RPM I found....the 9 is also doubled.

 

A couple I pulled out a roll, one is toned a nice reddish color.