Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ziggy29, post: 27843, member: 1113&quot;]I grew up in the San Francisco area during the period when the Mint was in the process of ceasing business strikes.&nbsp; For a while, we could find lots of S-mint cents and nickels (from 1968 onward) and, occasionally, S-mint nickels and wheaties before 1955.&nbsp; Even in that area, we saw mostly Denver coins because S-mint coins often had considerably lower mintages; I&#039;d estimate that in the early 1970s when I was a wee lad we had maybe 75% Denver coinage and 25% San Francisco coinage.&nbsp; I never saw much but nickels and cents because the other S-mint coins were all 90% silver and had long since stopped circulating.</p><p><br /></p><p>They stopped making business strike nickels after 1971, but as far as I can remember (though I was only 6), few noticed for some reason.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cents were another matter.&nbsp; Every year, or so it seems, it was rumored that the Mint would stop making business strike cents.&nbsp; The last year of actual business strike coinage -- 1974 -- saw the biggest hype.&nbsp; Apparently, some people got wind that the mint there was going to stop making cents.&nbsp; This was probably around February or March of 1974, as I recall, so many thought that 1974-S cents would become the next (say) 1950-D nickel.&nbsp; People were hoarding 1974-S cents like nobody&#039;s business.&nbsp; As it turns out, the Mint made an ordinary amount of cents throughout 1974.&nbsp; And all that hoarding manifested itself into 1974-S cents being available in large quantities (relative to mintage) in MS-65 and above.&nbsp; In fact, in grades above 65, the &#039;74-S is cheaper than many contemporary issues with 5-10 times the mintage -- largely because of this hoarding.</p><p><br /></p><p>And for many years after that -- even up to the time we moved away from the area last year -- I&#039;d occasionally see &#039;74-S cents in circulation, which were nothing special by that time, and I&#039;d be carried back almost 30 years to remember the hype!</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, as we now know, after &#039;74 they did stop making business strikes.&nbsp; But then, we saw a lot of speculating on (proof-only) 1975-S cents the following year.&nbsp; For a few years they were way overpriced relative to other proofs (as I fear 1999-S silver proof sets may be), but have since come down to earth and you can get a nice one for under $5.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in