Memorial Cent

Okay we are over half way through the 2009 Lincoln Coin Excitement Year. Many Coin Talkers are avid Lincoln cent collectors. Knowing this has been discussed lightly before this year I would certainly find it interesting if some would post their current thoughts on this series.

I have a set only needing one more to complete. I think it is a very beautiful, inexpensive, and interesting series. Something about cartwheeling "coppers" that to me are very beautiful as a group, and I like the design as well.

 

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I do not like the memorial reverse anymore then the newer coins.
The log cabin was okay, but the other three are terrible. The wheat cent was beautiful in my opinion was the best lincoln cent we have had.
But I tell you what, after the crappy designs we have seen for 2010, they either better put one of those eagle reverses on the coin, or they need to bring back the memorial.
I don't like the memorial, but compared to the other stuff, it looks great.

 

I think it was a mistake to put Lincoln on the Cent in 1909!!!!

Presidents don't belong on coins, Lady Liberty does. Once a prez is put on the coin, they never come off because of politics. They should quit with all of the commemorative reverse programs and revamp all denominations with Liberty on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. :thumb:

 

I tink we have covered the dead president thing quite a bit. I don't know of anyone on CT that will disagree with you. But, he is on the cent.

 

Ding... Ding...Ding!
Lady Liberty!
LADY LIBERTY!
LADY LIBERTY!

 

OH well as usual someone beat me to this answer.
Couldn't we just have the Mercury Dime made into a cent?

 

To be honest, I prefer anything but the reverse with a building/memorial. Come on, it's a darn building! I estimate them everyday, and for the most part, they are all the same.

 

I agree. I loved the wheat cent. Not only was the reverse great...but the obverse was awesome too. The obverse on the new Lincoln cent looks terrible. They have made so many alterations over the years it is very different when compared to the 1909 design and not nearly as attractive.

 

Yes, and thanks for posting to all. But, my original question was concerning future collectabilty and popularity.

 

Am I correct in saying that the National Parks are going on next year with four different parks each year for the next 10 years? This should be good.
I'll trade you a Grand Teton and mountains for a Yellowstone and Old Faithful or two Grand Canyons and the Boulder Dam. Yes I know its Hoover Dam. How many can you think of?

 

I think collectible and valuable are two seperate things. It will be a highly collectible series as long as the cent circulates (as it's the lowest denomination circulating and thus where most collectors begin(. But, valuable...I don't think so. Outside of a couple varieties (close AM as an example), there aren't any remotely scarce dates in the Memorial series. So, I do not expect this set will ever have much value.

 

The memorial cents had high mintages, and there really wasn't a key/semi key, that made you say wow! Maybe the 72' DD, can't think of any others at the moment.
I'd honestly just pass on this series, if anybody wants to do it for an investment, or long term value, because I think you will get your hopes too high.
If you like the coin, then by all means, collect it

 

The '09 cent has a low mintage when one is talking about cents in general, yet they are being hoarded by the box. The Memorial Cent had high mintages, but how many people hoarded these? I personnally think there will be '09 cents in mint condition for collectors for decades to come.

I don't think these coins have the durabilty as the other coins released with them over the years. My son and I did a lot roll searching over the last few months looking for these worth putting in a folder for him. We found some very nice looking circulated cents for him, but cartwheeling reds we did not except maybe '05 and '06 and above. But even in the later years to find them not covered in carbon spots was very, very difficult to do.

Obviously if they become very popular to collect their values should increase somewhat automatically I would think. I'm really not asking from a future price increase speculation, and certainly not an investment standpoint, but just about an overall gain in popularity.

 

Over gain in popularity?

Lets face it, I honestly believe the wheat cent, and the 09 coins will be more popular than the memorial.
The memorial penny will always be rembered as the penny, most of us grew up with, and there isn't anything special. If you are younger, not exactly my age, but probably in my age to maybe if you are in your 30's, finding wheats was so special, it was a change from what you see (memorial cent), and that got most of us excited, do you see me jumping up and down at Wal-Mart because I got a 1980 memorial cent, NO, because I am not the least bit impressed with the coin, as it is just a regular coin to me, if it was a wheatie of any date, I'd get a little excited, and I would be less excited about getting an 09 coin, but it is better than a memorial.
I think the memorial will be that one coin, that is forgotten, but will never go up in popularity, and will never go up that high in my value.

 

A lot of people when they get older start to collect the coins they grew up with. I have read many on Coin Talk verify this.

I need to put something in the proper perspective here. A lot of the collecting I do I have my sons in mind. However, I still collect what I like, but think about them and coins for them as they develop into collectors in future years.

When a type of coin goes out of production it appears to me after a few years the popularity grows. As a young boy the best I can remember it didn't take more than a few years until seeing a wheatie was a rareity. When my son and I were roll searching for cents we found a wheatie at a rate of about one to three or four rolls in very good condition or less. One exception was probably a Fine.

I think one thing will insure their increase in popularity is if the cent goes out of production completely. Also if the mint ends up putting an unpopular reverse on the new cent starting in '10 this will also help.

At this point I'm beginning to think they are definitely a type of coin that has seriously been overlooked. None of this is a big deal other than I'm just curious what other Coin Talkers think about all this.

 

I'll be the black sheep. Interesting series, fun to collect ('specially for kids) and inexpensive. I like the wheat design, I like the memorial design, and I like the reverse designs on the '09's. Will I ever make a bundle selling these coins? No. Do I care? No. Just a humble collector havin' a bit o' fun.

 

I'm in 100% agreement. Sadly, presidents will never be taken off coins, not only from politics, but, mainstream people will most like find it disrespectful, and cause a big hoopla about it.

 

I love the Memorial series. IMO, it's the most challenging series to put together in high quality. Yea, there's billions, but the vast majority of them are MS-63 and below with spots and mid- to late- die states.

Sure, you can buy a "complete" BU set for $30. However, when you start looking at them closely, you'll quickly discover the quality is sub-par. My goal for many years is to have ultra-quality, MS-65 RD and up, EDS, no spots and defined steps. I'm pretty close to getting there, but let me tell you, I've looked through THOUSANDS of coins....until my eyes are crossed. Even the original OBW rolls contain mostly sub-par coins....believe me, I've cracked open a LOT of OBW rolls.

Good Luck!

 

I believe we've had this discussion already....it's all in how you define a key/semi. By my definition, the keys and semi keys are the lowest minted coins in a series. While not rare, the Memorial series HAS keys and semi-keys....which I've already discussed in a thread here. Also, I challenge any of you to find ultra-quality Memorial keys. It's a lot tougher than you think if you use the criteria I use.

 

That is by your definition, most of us, when speaking in terms of keys and semi keys, talk about numismatics as a whole, and when you compare the memorial cent to other coins in numismatics, the memorial cent is nothing to scream over, and there are no dates that just make you want to scream. I can think of the 72' DD and the 84' Doubled Ear, and maybe some of those wide AM's but that is it, and in numismatics, those would be on the low end of the "key dates", but in their respected series they might be the most sought after.