Cheeseburger Stop Proves Profitable

I enjoyed reading your latest article [Item of the Week, Dec. 13 issue] on 1973-S Lincoln cents being the second-lowest mintage of Memorial cents after the 1968-S cents. The writer who authored this article was correct that the 1968-S Lincoln cent was heavily saved due to being the first San Francisco Mint product since back in 1955. I’d like to add some historic perspective that will give a bit more insight into what was happening with Lincoln cents minted at the San Francisco Mint in California during the early 1970s.

I recall it being very difficult just trying to locate rolls of the 1968-S cents during that first year and had very limited success even though I lived in Los Angeles, Calif., and canvased hundreds of banks during my search! I also recall a surge in prices for the 1968-S cents, with dealers offering to purchase them at over $4 a roll the following year; I should have sold the few I had as that price jump was short-lived!

Fast forward to 1973 and I am now stationed in San Antonio, Texas, with the United States Air Force, and ordering a cheeseburger at Texas burger institution Whataburger.

I’ll stop the story at this point and digress a bit ... As previously mentioned by the writer of the article on 1973-S Lincoln cents, he mentioned the 1968-S Lincoln cents as being hoarded, which was correct. This hoarding subsided somewhat in the ensuing years, but the allure of cents from the San Francisco Mint was always something coin collectors could not pass up. This was especially true since mintages at the San Francisco Mint from 1968 up to including 1974 were very small compared to the Denver or Philadelphia Mints of the period. Due to this hoarding, the Mint became concerned and looked at ways to disperse the San Francisco Mint cents more evenly and preclude the hoarding, which was actually getting worse.

The Mint came up with a secret plan whereas they started shipping the San Francisco Mint coins east to over half of the entire United States. Well, as you could imagine, the “secret” plan didn’t stay secret very long ... People from many states started reporting in the numismatic press of finding BU “S”-mint cents in a number of states where they were never issued previously. This was interesting because normally San Francisco Mint cents were only shipped to the west coast and usually just California. This shipping accelerated in 1973 with instructions from the Mint/Federal Reserve to mix mint-sewn bags of new cents with old coinage to try and thwart the hoarders.

Now, back to my cheeseburger at Whataburger. I made my order and received my change, which included three shiny, brand-new 1973-S cents! Wow! I asked the young lady cashier if I could buy a couple rolls of the new cents, and she smiled and said yes! Ate my burger in about 10 seconds and looked at the rolls. Frost National Bank was written on the outside of the machinewrapped shotgun rolls. I immediately drove to the main Frost National Bank in downtown San Antonio and asked where the main vault teller was located. I was directed to the lower level of the bank and walked up to the vault teller. Spoiler alert here: I might have had a whole $10 in my pocket at the time and maybe double that in my bank account at the time! Well, walked up and asked to buy some mint-sewn bags of the new cents. The answer about knocked me over: “How many do you want?” I had to act like I knew what I was doing so answered, “I’d like 20 bags and will be back in approximately 1 hour to pay and pick them up.” “OK” was the reply.

I think I broke the speed limit on the way to the Air Force credit union to apply for a signature loan of $1,000 but made it back to the bank in time and loaded up my car.

Well, mint-sewn bags were selling at roughly three times their face value ($50 each, face), and I undercut the market and sold the bags immediately.

Just shows there is always an opportunity around the corner, especially in numismatics!