Some nice Memorial cents for those who like them

Just read that thread on how scarce some of these are and couldn't agree more. These are some slabbed MS-66 RD ++ (IMHO) examples. It includes a 1965, plus a 68-PDS set. Should be interesting to see what happens to these in the future.

 

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Beautiful cents! I'm a Memorial cent freak!

I wish I have pics of my 68-S out of the Airtite because this coin is nearly flawless....the pictures do it no justice. I hand selected this coin out of several hundred (at least). With the 1968-S being the lowest mintage of the Memorials, I worked for years to find the ulitmate one. This example also has complete and full steps (FS). I will never understand why the TPG's don't add that designation like they do for Jeffersons. Some years it's impossible to find a FS example!

 

these are not my cup of tea, but I am really impressed with what I see.

 

The '68 is something. (they all are in this thread).

I'm guessing it's a mint set coin that was removed from the packaging 10 or 15 years ago.

 

Wow- great memorials. I like memorials too. Don't collect graded ones, but agree with you guys- hard to find high grade.

 

The mid 60's Memorial Cents are just a sweet spot in the series I think.
Something special was in the mint during those years.
I heard they used 10% honey in the die grease.
Just kidding.

Beautiful!

 

Some of the late '70's Denver issues are really tough without being all scratched up. The early zincs had terrible surfaces and some are getting hard to find without corrosion.

A lot of the memorials are underappreciated.

 

I think Ive got whole rolls laying around of cents for each year in the 60s for each mint. My grandmother for some strange reason made it a point to buy a new bank roll each year and then put them in plastic tubes and sealed them up. I'll have to post some of them one of these days.

 

I like the memorial design very much
Have been picking up specimens when ever I run across them.
A shot of one I have, Not the best shot. Photographing them has become as much of a challenge as collecting them.Hmm A hobby inside a hobby

 

here a nice P-66 Cameo 1959&PR-67Cameo 1964

 

All Memorials are under-appreciated. Collectors are making a big mistake ignoring them and the TPG's are horrible at grading them IMO. A quality collection cannot be had by simply going to ebay and buying a BU set for $20. I guarantee you I'd reject every single coin in such a purchased "collection".

All Memorial cents have: die issues, stike issues, hits, spots and corrosion. They were mostly produced in the billions which means attention to quality by the mint was basically non-existent. They passed though the Mint QC as "good enough". Finding high-quality pieces is very, very difficult and just because you may buy a slabbed MS-68 coin doesn't mean you have quality. I would also reject the vast majority of slabbed Memorial cents because the TPG's don't have a passion for the series and don't understand them.

 

I'd crack every single one of those rolls in search of nice individual coins. I've cracked hundreds of OBW Memorial rolls and searched thousands of individual coins at coin shows to find the quality I seek. If you become serious about collecting Memorial cents, you'll do it too. :smile

 

Sorry to use you as an example elmer....but what did the TPG grade your 1968-S at?

If you look at the reverse, you see the strike/die state is quite poor, something the TPG's generally ignore. The E in E PLURIBUS UNUM is almost non-existent. Just above the building cornice on the right the building is malformed and the steps show die wear on steps ~1-3 (typical for the series).

I bet that coin is around MS-67 regardless.

 

All of those cent are really beautiful as said above. Can a Dansco album protect them enough so they can be appreciated in years to come? zeke

 

BadThad,

All of the cents are graded MS-66 by PCGS. The 68-S is not really noted for its strike; in fact many 68's look 'mushy' compared to 69's. This example is a blazer in hand.

 

I bought a set from a coin show and all were heat sealed individually. Most were 64 RD to 66+ and some 67's easily. This set was unbelieveable and I guarentee you would have like them Thad. It can happen.dd:

 

You're preaching to the choir here.

Most of my cent searches are in mint sets and this is like shooting fish in a barrel compared to roll searching. Of course mint set cents only average much better than others and gems can be extremely elusive here as well. The primary difference is that strikes are much better in the sets on average.

I find it simply remarkable how much the cents and these sets are ignored. There are very few opportunities in any US or world coins to put together gem sets on the cheap yet here is one that people just pass by as every year more of these sets disappear to attrition caused by misadventure and to dealers cutting them up for singles. Many of the gems are really quite common but collectors can't even be troubled to search for them. about 10% of 1994P cents in the sets are superb gems. 1% are also highly Proof Like yet these go begging. The cost of the set is quite nominal which makes the cent almost free and they languish in dealer stock.

This situation won't last forever. There is demand for high grades which eats up some sets and the number of sets just keeps dropping. Eventually there just won't be enough sets even to satisfy the demand for singles and then these markets will change. This is already happening with a few of the early dates.

About 95% of the 1968-P cents in the sets are ugly and corroded. All have carbon spots.

 

That's because in 69 they finally made a new obverse master die. However, if you search hard, you can find a 68-S with a sharp reverse die like the coin I posted.

 

You were fortunate to find such a set. Did it cover 1959 - 2008? How much? Did you check them closely for spots, hits and full steps?

 

Indeed my friend, we've dicussed this topic before.

Honestly, I haven't had much look looking in the mint sets. The vast majority of them are spotted. I almost have a mint set coin for each Memorial in my collection. I'm not exagerating when I say that 99.5% of my biz strike coins are fair nicer than my mint set coins. Then again, I haven't searched near as many mint sets as I have rolls and singles. On the mint sets, yes, they are generally better struck....but most have spotting and hits due to mistreatment by the mint. Examples with less hits and spots are best found in OBW rolls in my experience....but you gotta hit the lucky roll. Most of the rolls have been improperly stored and it's quite often the entire roll is ruined. It's rare to find one that was properly stored and happens to be from an early die state. When I find a roll like that it's exciting!

I agree, now that the Memorial cent has been discontinued I'm hoping collector interest perks up. You're dead on regarding the comment about collectors being "bothered" to search for them. It's not until they become serious that they will realise the task before them will be more difficult than they ever could have imagined. LOL The only easy path to a gem collection isl to buy a lot of slabs...and that's going to be expensive considering the number of coins, 107 not including proofs, errors and varieties.

Agreed.