An unexpected phone call that revealed a huge Mint secret » MINT CONFIRMS EXISTENCE OF THE COIN THEY SAID THEY NEVER STRUCK As you recall from my blog here , I received a telephone call in mid-1994 that led to the discovery of a previously unknown experimental coin: a 1974 Lincoln cent struck on a bronze-clad steel planchet. Once I had a chance to examine an example of the coin and do some research into the 1973 experiments in alternative compositions for the 95 percent copper cent, I was convinced that the coin was a genuine Mint product. At the time, I had no Mint confirmation that such a coin had been struck. In fact, while Mint publications confirmed that a bronze-clad steel composition had been tested, the Mint claimed in those documents that planchets made of that material had been tested only with strikes bearing “nonsense” designs and not the regular Lincoln cent designs. Nonetheless, after considering the evidence we had available to us, the editors here felt confident enough to publish a news article about the discovery anyway, while being careful to describe the coin as something that “appeared” to be genuine. In preparing the article for publication, we also discussed our strategy for protecting the identity of my source and to prevent any possibility that the Mint might ask the U.S. Secret Service to come to our offices to confiscate the coin or to request that we identify the person who sent us the coin. We were concerned on two counts and had cause to be paranoid: (1) the Mint considered the 1974 Lincoln cents struck on aluminum planchets during the same round of experiments as the bronze-clad steel cent illegal to own; and (2) the Secret Service some years earlier had come to our offices and confiscated a coin that we had published a Page 1 news article about (I will write about this coin in the weeks ahead). Because of those concerns, I returned the coin to the owner as quickly as possible, even neglecting to take color photographs of it (something I quickly regretted). I also took steps to protect all of my notes correspondence with the source. Once I did both of these things, I reached out to the Mint, asking the public affairs office to dig into the Mint’s archives to see whether there was evidence that the bronze-clad steel cent had been struck with regular cent dies. It took Mint officials several months to go through their archives to get the information I requested, but the wait was well worth it. Here is what I reported on Page 1 of our Sept. 5, 1994, issue: “The United States Mint retains two experimental 1974 Lincoln cents struck on William T. Gibbs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the Atom feed. Please sign in or join to share your thoughts on this story ( from coin world )
Very cool, thanks for sharing. I would've love to see photos of the coin if you ever get your hands on them.
