New discovery 1974-D aluminum cent

I am always amazed by when a six figure coin comes out of hiding, but this one really surprised me. PCGS has just announced that they have authenticated a genuine MS-63 1974-D aluminum cent. There is a good story about the coin here http://www.pcgs.com/news/pcgs-certifies-first-confirmed-1974d-aluminum-cent?utm_source=ezine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ezine01282014.



My question is why is this coin not considered stolen property as so many other coins are? I guess I can keep looking for the 1964-D Peace dollar.

 

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If you read coinweek report on it they say the gov did an investigation and found no misconduct was found with these coins. It was a neat story, something I didn't know.

 

All of the coins were to be returned to director Brooks. If they were not, it should be considered the same as the 1933 St. Gaudens. For that matter, the 1913 Liberty nickel should be considered stolen property, but I want one of those, so we will keep it legal for now.

 

The 1913 nickel was never officially minted, therefore it's not considered government property.

 

No kidding I know they were made but I thought their existence in private hands was an urban legend like the 64 peace dollar

 

This is an absolutely amazing discovery coin. It really makes me think about what else could be out there, yet to be discovered.

 

Amen my dream is to discover a 1822 $5 mintage 17,796 3 known always hoped to find that or another rare early coin like a 1794 $1. In an early house I'm working on

 

Strictly speaking, it is a pattern or trial piece. And, personally I think it should be labeled and slabbed as such. Putting it into a holder deeming it is a 1C piece in Aluminum is misleading. It's not as if it is an off-metal error similar to the 1943 copper cents.

 

The missing pattern aluminum cents that are considered to be government property are 1974 PLAIN cents. They never struck any Denver pattern aluminum cents. At least not officially. the Lantz letter mentioned in the link is not an official record, just one workers story. (I have heard Mr Lants relate stories about the mint on several occasions, and often retellings of the same stories. Unfortunately the details of the stories change from one time to the next and I now think that details related by Mr Lantz should be viewed with some skepticism.) This coin is most likely an off-metal piece struck on a foreign planchet in error. The mint was striking aluminum coins for Nepal that year, 18.5 mm in diameter (a cent is 19mm). Problem is those were being struck in San Francisco. They were striking 5 Sentimos pieces in brass for the Phillipines in Denver, also 18.5 mm. Now the planchets for both of those probably came from an outside supplier. So it could be possible that a Nepal planchet got mixed in with the Phillipines planchets and sent to Denver. If there are a moderate number of 1974 D cents struck on Phillipines 5 Sentimos planchets it would lend credence to the idea.

 

I wonder if there will be more.

 

Oh, I found about 3 of those in some rolls recently, I thought they were common...

 

According to PCGS, they did strike some at Denver - +-10 of them.

 

Not according to a former Denver Mint employee, as detailed at this link.

To repost here: "According to Michael P. Lantz of Lakewood, Colorado, a former employee at the Denver Mint, approximately ten 1974-D One Cent pieces were made in Aluminum: "I personally didn't make any of the Denver aluminum cents, I was on the graveyard shift when they were stamped. A friend of mine, Ernie Martinez, die setter and later general foreman, stamped the aluminum cents on one of the Denver Mint's standard presses. When I talked to him last Sunday he told me that he stamped around 10 of them. One thing he recalled about them was that they 'finned' badly. After stamping the blanks he returned the finished aluminum cents to Harry Bobay, general foreman, who took them to the coining division office where they were shipped back to Mint headquarters in Washington, D.C. From there, who knows what happened to them.""

 

I was editing my post about the supposed Denver striking when these last to posts were made. Mr Lantz, story is not an official record and is not backed up by official documents. And as I stated about I have reason to question his remembrances to some extent.

 

Well, as a statistician, I have reason to doubt that a "few" aluminum planchets from San Francisco getting into the brass planchets sent to Denver -- then being struck with Lincoln Cent dies. That would mean that there are likely the commensurate hundreds of brass 1974-D Lincoln Cent off-metal coins floating around?

I wasn't there, but Mr. Lantz was. Patterns seem feasible, even if done completely off the books.

 

Why would they strike the same patterns at two locations? Besides, if it took someone 50 years to discover one of these then it's very likely that neither off metal error would be common.

It seems ligit...

 

You might want to brush up on your math a little. 2014-1974 = 40 years. And, if you read the posted/linked article, the source of this coin said his father has had it for years.

 

Dang this coin is only 2 years older then me and a 6 figure plus coin!! I'd trade it for the nicest 1794 flowing hair dollar you can get

 

Well I would trade it for a nice 1794, but you would need two full rolls of these if you want to get your hands on the SP-66. It is the most expensive coin ever sold.

 

You can see it at the Long Beach Expo. Who's going?!