What are these Lincoln Key Dates worth?

In Q.David Bowers book on Abe Kosoff ( If you don't know who he was, you are missing a lot of info) Abe ( pg 150-151) said that in the 1950s a gentleman came into his shop and sold a roll of Uncirculated 1909 SVDB for $5 each. ( $250). Then shortly there after the gentleman brought in 2 or 3 more rolls, and he bought them at the same price. Cash, no check). The seller wouldn't give his name or address,etc. He came back ever so often with more. Abe's supply became large even though he wholesaled some off. He had heard about a hoard of 800 rolls and figured this might be it. His price slowly went up to $5.50 then $6.00, and when with the last rolls, he wanted $6.50. Kosoff said no, and the man left. Later they tried to find him and all leads were fictitious, and no more 09 SDVB for their sales. 800 rolls would have been 40,000 BU hoarded.

 

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The coin is quite common in high MS grades. You'd find several at any coin show or auction. I can't see any way that 90% of them are essentially gone. Maybe if it was a more ordinary early date like a 1919 but the 09-s VDB had to hoarded big time.

If you made 25 cents an hour then a roll is two hours' pay....not that big of a deal. People spend two hours' pay hoarding stuff like state quarters, dead president dollars etc. with no problem and they do it over and over again for every issue. Saving the SVDB's would be a one time shot or a coin here and there as found in circulation.

This is possibly the most over valued/ hyped coin there is.

 

This info came from COIN FACTS, a PCGS service. I think they probably know a little bit about what they are talking about...

 

Wow...this thread went off in a tangent. Thanks for the people who graded/valued my coins. If what was said was true, kinda neat that I've got one of only 50K'ish 09S VDB.

 

I don't buy that for a second

 

50 k is a lot. It is just that the coin and series are popular. Any date half cent coin is far rarer than an 09s-vdb.

There are plenty of 19th century US coins you could buy for less than the price of an 09-s VDB that had MINTAGES of under 50,000 and probably have only a few hundred survivors.

 

1909-S VDB Lincoln Head Cent
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1909-S VDB Lincoln Head Penny, Obverse
1909-S VDB Lincoln Head Penny, Reverse

Specifications
Designer Victor David Brenner
Obverse Abraham Lincoln Bust
Reverse "Wheat Ear"
Edge Plain
Weight 3.11 grams
Diameter 19 millimeters
Composition Copper (95%), Tin and Zinc (5%)
Date(s) 1909


The 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln Head Cent, of which 484,000 were struck, quickly became recognized as scarce, later as rare.
Specifications

Designer: Victor David Brenner
Obverse Design: Abraham Lincoln Bust
Reverse Design: "Wheat Ear"
Edge: Plain
Weight: 3.11 grams
Diameter: 19 millimeters
Composition: Copper (95%), Tin and Zinc (5%)
Date Minted: 1909
Mintage: 484,000

Collecting

The 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent has a mintage of 484,000.
The 1803 half cent has a mintage of 97,900.
The 1850 half cent has a mintage of 39,812.
The 1876 3-Cent nickel has a mintage of 162,000.
The 1865-S half dime has a mintage of 120,000.
The 1840 quarter has a mintage of 188,127.

The 1909-S VDB retails $750 in Good. All the others retail $25-$45 in Good. That alone should tell you the importance of demand when determining the market value of a coin. Demand trumps age, precious metal content, whether or not a certain coin is still being made any more, and even scarcity!

To take it further, the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent isn’t even the scarcest cent struck by the San Francisco mint in 1909! That distinction goes to the 1909-S Indian Head cent, struck in the first few months of 1909 before the Lincoln cent was introduced later that year. The 1909-S Indian Head cent has a mintage of 309,000 and is currently valued at $425 in Good– that’s nearly $300 less than the value of the 1909-S VDB in Good! But it’s all in the demand. There are a lot of Lincoln cent collectors. Of those many Lincoln cent collectors, a large percentage of those are collecting Lincolns by date and mintmark– Lincoln cent collectors get hooked early, as so many date/mintmarks can be obtained cheaply.
Background

The 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent is one of four 1909-dated Lincoln cents. There is just the plain ol’ 1909, the 1909 VDB, the 1909-S, and of course, the 1909-S VDB. The 1909 is fairly common; the 1909 VDB is popular and just slightly less common; the 1909-S is scarce, in demand and pretty costly for a Lincoln cent (retails $68.50 in Good). But the 1909-S VDB is the King of the Lincoln Cents. It’s the toughest hole to fill in any Lincoln cent album. Ironically, it may not be the toughest Lincoln cent to find– it’s possible that you’ll have to look harder for a 1914-D or a 1922 No-D. But the 1909-S VDB will be your most expensive Lincoln cent to purchase.

The initials, ‘V.D.B’ refer to the initials of the Lincoln cent designer, Victor David Brenner. In 1909, those initials appeared on the reverse of the Lincoln cent, below the wheat ears. They were very tiny, but visible. But those were different times in 1909. Today, probably no one would care about a designer’s initials appearing “prominently” on the face of a United States coin. But in 1909, there was actually an outcry over the V.D.B initials on the reverse! People actually hollered ‘foul’ as the initials were seen as “defacing” a U.S. coin by such an egotistical placement of a designer’s initials on the surface of our nation’s new cent coin!

There was such an outcry over the initials, that the ‘V.D.B’ was removed, but not before it had appeared on the 1909 cents struck at both the Philadelphia mint AND the San Francisco mint. Which accounts for the 1909-VDB and the 1909-S VDB cents. More 1909 cents were struck later in the year, again at both mints, but THIS time with the offending initials removed. This accounts for the 1909 and the 1909-S cents.

But that wasn’t the end of Victor David Brenner’s initials. They took a break from 1910 through 1917. But in 1918, the “V.D.B” was back– this time in a VERY tiny, unobtrusive place beneath the Lincoln bust on the obverse. The initials are there on the Lincoln cent to this day. This time there was no outcry.

As of this writing, we are roughly two years away from the 100th anniversary of the 1909 Lincoln cents. We may be even LESS than two years away from the cent being abolished altogether, but that’s not for certain. Either way, the Lincoln cent, INCLUDING the 1909-S VDB cent, is in for some interesting times in the coming years!
Values

Though the mintage of the 1909-S VDB is quite small for a Lincoln cent, 484,000 is not exactly a tiny mintage, especially compared to some of the REALLY tiny mintages throughout U.S. history. That’s why it’s not SUPER hard to find a 1909-S VDB. You can find them here on a regular basis. It’s not so much that they’re hard to track down, it’s just that you’ll have to pay a lot for each one up for sale. There are plenty of buyers, so that’s why prices rise steadily for the 1909-S VDB.

Retail values for the 1909-S VDB go up very slowly from the grades of Good through Fine: the Good retails $750, Very Good retails $800 and Fine retails $850. The first decent jump is up to Very Fine, where these cents retail $1,050. From there, prices still rise only gradually: Extra Fine retails $1,200, About Uncirculated $1,250 and in basic mint-state, the 09-S VDB retails $1,500. So while the 1909-S VDB is an expensive coin going down into the lower grades, unlike other U.S. coin rarities, the price does not spiral into the stratosphere even up into Uncirculated condition! Consider, a Very Good 1909-S VDB (that’s a pretty worn cent) retails $800, but a nearly uncirculated 1909-S VDB retails $1,250– it would almost seem to follow, that if you have $800 to spend on a Very Good example, why not save up a bit more for the About Uncirculated or Uncirculated, which are priced just about in the same ballpark?
Price Guide
Mints

San Francisco Mint (S mintmark)

 

Wikianswers.com

 

Rim's cents came up with far different data in post 19.

 

It's a bit odd that all these keys are as circulated as they are.

 

Im crying right now. I wish I could find a wheat penny collection from someone at a yard sale or something. Awesome collection. I agree with a $1000 avg. Put the 1909 S on the end of a wheat penny roll and watch the bidding begin.

 

Lets see now.....do I listen to the experts from PCGS or do I listen to Doug21 from Coin Talk?

I pick PCGS....:yes:


On Ebay now: (PCGS,NGC,ANACS,ICG)

S-VDB = 199 coins
11-S = 52 coins

 

S-VDB is overvalued in my opinion.
However in MS66RD the 11-S is at $21,000 compared to $13,500 for the S-VDB.