I just went through 25 rolls of new 2012 shield cents, wrapped from the bank, never seen circulation, grubby fingers or anything. Not a single one would I grade 65 red. Every single coin 2010-2012 I have seen is littered with spotting, uneven color, or just plain ugly. That's 1250 coins from the mint that look like crap. On the other hand, I went through 8 rolls of NF String rolls and pulled a 1998 WAM in at least 65 Red and two 1960-D Small Dates that are lightly circulated but still have great luster, eye appeal and unaltered surfaces. Why can I not find a decent shield cent even from a brand new roll? What is going on at the mint? Just did an eBay search for 66 RD shield cents, and every single one (PCGS and NGC) look incredibly over-graded. Maybe I'm behind the curve but are these coins just naturally prone to looking terrible and that is being considered in grading? Anyone have any luck finding a good one?
Have you ever seen how pennies are produced or seen the mintage numbers? The dies are like machine guns. Frankly, I'm amazed by the quality they can achieve.
What I hate worse is the rolling machines. They scrape the copper off in a ring on each end of the roll!
I'm getting mostly ones from Denver, however I have received quite a few Philly cents in change. Both the Ds and Ps are spotted. Nothing before 2010 has spots.
That's what I've noticed. Spotting is a problem on all Zincolns but it seems the Shield cents are spotted as soon as they're minted. I've pulled early 90's coins from circulation that have very light spotting, but it seems that all Shields have heavy spotting in prime focal areas of the coin.
