This is nothing special. I just got this in change and thought it was interesting that such a nice specimen could be found in change 55 years after release.
It looks almost fully lustrous. It doesn't appear to be SMS. One cent coins are funny since they often sit in one place for many many years. No other US coin made since 1965 does this. You can find some old AU nickels but not any made after 1965. But pennies can get into drawers or piggy banks and sit for a very long time and once they finally get moving again they can stop once more. This allows a small percentage of the cents to still be AU even after 55 years. Some might think it was released as part of a BU roll but the odds of this are low because it's a tough roll and has a premium. There are far more not circulating than being released from BU rolls for this date. It's good to see people looking at their change again. there's always something interesting.
I’m working on a new coin jar, 1,5,10 and 25 denoms, range of dates 1960 to 2010. Yesterday and today worked 1960, 1964, two 1964-D, 1967 and 1970 Lincolns. The only one worth putting in a flip was the ‘64 Philly, a AU53 Brown with cleanish fields. The rest were just plain too worn out. Basically, I’m agreeing with @cladking …these are examples of coins being kept in a time capsule. When I get to 2000-2010, there are about 60 pennies that appear to be brand new. It takes a while to go through stashes like this because I am also checking for doubling varieties, and so far for the last two separate batches I have found no doubled dies but lots of pristine coins…Spark
In a related effort of late, my previous task was 79 coins sent to me from my younger son Douglas (he’s 42) who is the Executive Chef for a Seafood restaurant on Whidbey Island in Washington State. My son was helping a friend clean out a storage section of a friends’ garage and found the coins in a cubby hole. The newest coin was a 1984 cent and no, it was not a doubled ear. Among those conserved or relegated to the safety of a flip was a 1917 G4 wheat. There is only one variety listed at Wexler, and if this coin ever had doubling it had been obliterated by wear. Out of the 79 coins I put 37 in flips and I am sending all 79 coins back to my son to give back to his friend…it took me about 2 weeks to check them all. I had a blast checking all of these. I told my son that if I found anything of value I would send them back so his friend could keep them, I mean, after all, they were his coins in the first place. I got all the fun discovering what was there. …Spark
I think searching is the biggest thrill of collecting. I very seldom do roll hunting. But I did get most of my collection from the wild.
