1985 flawless pennies

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Charles major, Aug 11, 2017.

  1. Charles major

    Charles major New Member

    Two 1985 Lincoln cent pennies my grandmother gave me from her safe they look mint condition no scratches really visible to me no erosion they look brand new I don't know much about pennies but I would like to find out if they're worth anything if anyone thinks I should send them in for grading I see one sold for $6000 I have the same exact condition of two of them if anyone would help me outid be very grateful
     
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  3. Charles major

    Charles major New Member

    Two 1985 Lincoln cent pennies my grandmother gave me from her safe they look mint condition no scratches really visible to me no erosion they look brand new I don't know much about pennies but I would like to find out if they're worth anything if anyone thinks I should send them in for grading I see one sold for $6000 I have the same exact condition of two of them if anyone would help me outid be very grateful
     

    Attached Files:

  4. furham

    furham Good Ole Boy

    We have to have pictures Charles.
     
    eddiespin likes this.
  5. eddiespin

    eddiespin Fast Eddie

    Oh my, catch your breath! My answer is no.
     
    Charles major and furryfrog02 like this.
  6. Kirkuleez

    Kirkuleez 80 proof

    The top pop MS-68+ sold for $5875, there is a total population of three coins with this grade. The grade below that usually sells for about twenty bucks and are very common. It's not impossible that your coins are MS-68+ coins, but the odds are extremely low and you'll need to spend sixty or seventy bucks to find out.
     
    Charles major likes this.
  7. Charles major

    Charles major New Member

     

    Attached Files:

  8. Kirkuleez

    Kirkuleez 80 proof

    With the spotting, you're looking more in the 65-66 range. It would cost you more to grade them than they would be worth.
     
    Charles major likes this.
  9. Dougmeister

    Dougmeister Well-Known Member

    Where did you see a 1985 Lincoln cent that sold for $6k?
     
  10. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    This is a RETAIL price guide: http://www.numismedia.com/fmv/fmv.shtml, that is the price you would pay in a coin shop (if you are selling coins, you'll receive less since the shop has to cover it's overhead, cost of capital, etc.)

    IF they were absolutely flawless - and they are not - maybe $600-700.

    The one on the left has a plating bubble on the left side of Abe's head and a big ding in front of his schnoz. The one on the right has a couple plating issues and a thumbprint (almost good enough to have the FBI run it).
     
  11. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    See response in the other thread.

    In the future, please only post once.
     
    Charles major likes this.
  12. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan 48-year collector Moderator

    In the real market, I'd say ten cents apiece ... on a good day.

    Here is the correct Numismedia page.

    In MS65 RD, slabbed, which I believe is a best-case scenario on these, a 1985 Lincoln cent lists for $7.20, as you'll see if you click that link.

    In MS66 RD, $16.25.

    This would be in a TPG (third-party graded) certification slab, like PCGS or NGC.

    And you'd have to pay north of $30-35+ for the slab fees to get one certified, so you'd already be in negative numbers there.

    Even if by some extreme longshot you got them slabbed as MS69 RD (which would never, ever happen on these), they'd still be worth $690.00 retail, not ten times that much.

    Raw, as-is ... ten cents apiece is my assessment.

    I don't know what fantasyland one sold for $6K in, unless it was a TPG-certified error coin or someone was high on angel dust. Like @Dougmeister, I would like to see you link us to that information.

    So yeah, despite minor flaws, they are pretty for 32-year-old zinc cents.

    But they're still dirt-common zinc Memorial cents, of which 5,648,489,887 were produced. That's over five and a half billion ... with a "b".
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2017
    Charles major likes this.
  13. SuperDave

    SuperDave Free the Cartwheels!

  14. Dougmeister

    Dougmeister Well-Known Member

  15. SuperDave

    SuperDave Free the Cartwheels!

    Now, for the fun part. That same coin sold for the same price this January at FUN, and a second example of similar grade sold for that same price at Dallas this April. Aside those three, no 1985-P has exceeded $2000. I suspect a bidding war in all cases.

    Quite frankly, the OP's coins look rather nice themselves.

    IMG_2846a.JPG

    IMG_2847a.JPG

    The left one in particular; the right one looks fingerprinted. Do they reach the 68 level which justifies slabbing? Can't tell from these images, but frankly I'd like to see images which allowed such a judgement because they're seeming kinda close.
     
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  16. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    That coin is what's called "Top Pop" i.e. the highest graded coin in that company's slab. There is an insane competition for those coins because of the registry set competition. Notice that the next level down, MS68RD has a population of 45 and routinely sells for under $1,000. MS66RD and MS67RD regularly sell for under $20.
     
    xlrcable and Jimski like this.
  17. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    @Charles major Welcome to CT... you have 2 very RD 1985 CENTS...
    this is a very RD Penny.
    Penny.jpg
     
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  18. fish4uinmd

    fish4uinmd Well-Known Member

    What's special about a 1985 cent??
     
  19. John T.

    John T. Active Member

    I'm getting pretty old, but the post from the fish guy, kind of woke me up.
     
    fish4uinmd and Charles major like this.
  20. Kirkuleez

    Kirkuleez 80 proof

    Nothing, just the result of a bidding war amongst registry collectors.
     
    Charles major likes this.
  21. Dougmeister

    Dougmeister Well-Known Member

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