1959 Wheat Cent Up For Sale...That's right, Wheat!

RLM, is that Avatar of your's a Wrong Planchet or Improper Alloy?

 

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Wow i wish i came across a coin like that!!

 

Yep, another one to look for while roll searching, along with the 43 copper cent, the 44 steelie, and the 83 copper.

 

1959 Wheat

I searched thru my wheats, found three of the 1959 D. It left me very confused. Where can I access info on what to look for here. I have the idea, just not the knowledge. Can anyone give me a few pointers on this coin?

 

What's on the reverse of your coins?

The 1959's were the first year for the memorial reverse to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth. The coin in the article has a wheat reverse.

 

There is also a 1959 D MM variety to look for. Lood for a D mint mark under the last 9 in the date. The D will be facing the rim and under the down slope of the 9.

 

Very silly of me. I was looking at the the article incorrectly. Thanks for pointing that out. I feel kinda....stupid?

 

Not at all! There are so many things to look for that it's possible to miss something. I collect both U.S. and Canadian cents and I just recently discovered that in addition to all the varieties and errors, there are now magnetic and non-magnetic ones to look for. This is after searching tens of thousands of pennies over the last year or so.

Never feel your questions are "stupid". If you don't know something, ask. We've all been there!

 

How could this error happen? Surely when they change dies, both dies would be changed?

 

Not always, sometimes just one die of a pair is swapped out. And in late 1958 they would have been striking both designs at the same time. Still I would think they would have had some procedures in place to make sure that such a pairing could not take place. Personally I don't think the 1959 wheat is a genuine mint issue.

 

To me it seems possible, like it was said earlier a mint worker is just an average joe doing the same thing over and over again and just might have let this one go by. To me it's exciting to know there is a mystery about the coin. Yes, I am optimistic, yes I would love that coin, yes, I know that I probably will never find it, but what if...
Let the hunt begin!!!

 

I swear I found a '59 wheat about a month ago. I remember looking at it and thinking, "I wonder if I should sort my wheats from my regular brass...

Looks like I have to go through my last brass container! All 30 lbs! I'll post back if I find it. If I don't, assume I was wrong.


I, too, believe it was a simple error to make. High production facilities turn out quite a bit of scrap; it's just a little strange that he wouldn't notice that the cents he's producing don't have the new design? Maybe it was just a few, or one. Maybe I didn't see crap! Hahaha

 

id say dam if a team of forensic scientist can figure it out ..lol..where screwed..

 

Hmm. About 12 years ago I was playing poker with some people and a woman said she had an error coin. She said she had a nickle that had V's instead of U's. I told her that's the way they did it back then and it wasn't an error. Then somehow we got to talking about wheat pennies and I said the last year they were made was 1958. She said no, it was 1959. I said nope, definitely 1958. She told me she had a 1959 wheat penny at home. I think I'm going to track her down and ask if she still has it. Two reasons why I know she wasn't just pulling my leg. First, she knew nothing about coins and wouldn't have made it up, and second, she said she was collecting wheat pennies and kept that one because it was the year of birth of someone in her family.