Folklore-The 55 Double Die Cent

From the RED book on Lincoln cents. It seems that by the time the Doubled die was first seen there were over 40,000 of them produced. And 24,000 of them were already mixed with the other cents. The mint inspector decided to release them into circulation. Thinking that they would be viewed as defective, "Boy was he wrong"
According to the red book it say's that they believe 3 to 4,000 are suspected to still exist. But that seems wrong it is more likely that 3-4 exist in MS.

Coin facts tells a slightly different story but one that confirms the cigarette pack story. Scroll to the bottom.
https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1955-1c-doubled-die-obverse-bn/2825

 

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My conspiracy theorist tendency has me thinking it was deliberate to bring new blood to coin collecting......Just like the Dag Hammarskjold stamp for stamp collecting.....

 

I still have not located one but I am still looking.

 

In the early-mid 1950's cigs were 20c a pack.

 

While I agree with your point in general, I think it's worth differentiating varieties created unintentionally, such as this one, from varieties created intentionally, like the large and small dates that pop up later in the Lincoln series. So, while I agree that these aren't true errors, I also feel that error is the most concise way of describing it.

 

No. The overwhelmingly vast majority of varieties are unintentional. An intentional variety is by far the exception. There are countless types without a single intentional variety, and hundreds of unintentional ones.

This coin is not an error. Calling it an error only misleads those who don't understand the term.

 

At my first real SSN-required job in a liquor-newsstand-soda fountain store, I remember cigs (red pack so probably Pall Malls) with three pennies under the cellophane on the side of the package. At that mid-fifties time, Camels and Luckies were about 20-22 cents but at the ship's store, the military could get them for 12 cents.

 

I could be wrong but I believe working dies were inspected after they were produced even back in the mid 50's. No way this was unintentional. It's one of the original mint sports.

 

1955 is my birth year so maybe a mint employee thought the world was about to end.

 

So if you found one, would it be considered a Lucky Strike?

 

ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

 

Thank you! I didn’t dream the story then.

 

I thought the majority of the 55 DDs were released in the New England area.
I heard the story of a dealer buying them for a quarter. He got so many he stopped buying them.

 

A coin dealer friend of mine was a teenager in Boston in 1955 and remembers getting one in change at a store, noticing the doubling, but when the vendor said "Eh, they probably all look that way from 1955" he just spent it. Now he fanticizes that the store had just broken open a new roll and he could have bought them all!!!

 

Sounds like one of my fantasies.

 

The LCD has one slabbed XF40 if I remember right. i.e, Fredericksburg, Va.

 

Lots here to add to that I have read/heard/experienced.
-They were included as change in a pack of cigarettes in vending machines.
-They were released through a shipment from the mint to Chase bank in NY.
That's why "Chase Bank NY" rolls carry a premium on auction sites (even though
there will not be any original rolls still unsearched.)
-Many ended up in New England, especially Maine.
-I had a girlfriend in high school in Maine who, when she found out I dabbled in collecting LC, told me her father had a roll of them from working at a gas station.
-She dumped me before I saw the roll. ): (In my defense, some hormonal things were more interesting as a teenager than LC.)

EDIT:
-I have never owned or found one roll searching.

 

That's a reasonable and perfectly understandable reaction as a teenager!

 

That dealer was Q David Bowers. He has told that story before in some of his writings.

 

I've told my story a few times of selling my 1878 Nickel 3 cent (proof only-2350 minted) to buy a wedding band set for a girl I ended up not marrying....