I have been putting a Lincoln set together for some time now...probably a couple of years total. My goal is to have low MS (60-64) for most of the wheat set. I have been working backward and feel I am hitting a road block and dragging my feet starting at 1933. I just feel there are plenty of AUs and higher MS out of my price range but that sweet spot that I want my collection seems so eluding. I know the search is part of the fun, there is a part of me that wonders if I'm being too unrealistic? I am not sure of the mint history process and am not sure if some form of minting quality changed but I just cannot find coins in the 20's and early 30's that seem to be on par with the rest of the wheats I have. Most have carbon spotting, weak features or so many field contact marks it distracts my eye. If anyone has any thoughts on this date range I would be enlightened to read them, but at the moment I am wondering if I should "settle" for AU with plans to upgrade later or just wait it out and maybe continue with a slight focus on another series? Thanks!
The reason so many nicer later wheats are available can probably be traced to the pennyboards, the increase in coin collecting in the 30's, and Wayte Raymond. In the early years of the cent they were just cents. Something to be spent and only a relatively small number of them were ever put aside in MS. Withthe comming of the penny boards a great many more people started collecting and of course more MS coins were saved. Then around 1936 Wayte Raymond started the idea of putting back BU rolls for future collectors and for that time on a great many more collectors and dealers deliberately put back original bank wrapped rolls of uncirculated coins so today is it not that hard to locate nice MS coins from the mid 30's and later, but much tougher to find them from before the mid thirties. Some earlier rolls were found back then and put back, but by them most of the older original rolls had already been broken up.
Like a far number of the Buffalo Nickels, many of the dates for Lincoln Cents in the 1920s were poorly made. The number coins saved has something to do with it, but the initial quality was lacking too. The 1922 Plain cent is one example of this.
The nice examples exist, and a pretty penny costs a pretty penny. My opinion is once you hit that wall start saving and buy the coins in the grade you find acceptable for your collection one at a time and try to make progress over each year. Not just the grade though, the appearance as a whole set matters also. The mistake so many make is putting together a MS set and leaving the key dates and harder dates for last and finding it impossible to complete it the way they want it to be due to cost and there been a small pool that comes up. Once the cost factor and few examples pops up they either quit the collection (most people) or the only other option, start saving for the "right" coin to complete it and being patient for them to appear to you. My opinion is, don't settle for AU, slow down and take longer and get what you really want piece by piece or you will be unsatisfied with the end result and either quit or spend even more money for what you really wanted anyways. I mean if you have to fill the holes, buy the cheapest lowest grade examples possible and complete it, but you'll still be buying them again because it's not what you wanted Hahahaa
