Advice on Buying a Key-Date Lincoln Cent
When I was roll-searching pennies in the late 1950s, early 1960s, the four keys to the series were the 1909- S VDB, 1909- S, 1914-D and 1931- S. Of course, those are still the keys, but in recent years they’ve been joined by varieties such as the 1922 no D and the 1955 doubled die obverse.
The big key has always been the 1909- S VDB, but the 1914-D has overtaken it value-wise in Mint State grades. I happen to live in a region of the country where Denver Mint coins were and are more common than pieces from Philadelphia or from the San Francisco Mint. Thus, I found a couple of low- grade 1914-Ds but no 1931- S cents.
As another example of this observation, many years later I purchased a small hoard of 1932 Washington quarters that had been accumulated by a woman who particularly liked the date. Most of the coins were Ps, as you would expect, but there were about five times as many 1932-Ds as 1932- Ss.
In this column, I’m going to talk about a CoinTalk message board string that involved the 1914-D Lincoln cent. The original poster (OP) was in the market for a VF 1914-D, and he had located one that was priced right for its grade, but he wasn’t sure he should buy it. Here’s what he wrote: “One I saw was in a blue PCGS holder and looked good, but I saw some green at the 9 of the date. I was wondering if that was oxidation or possibly environmental damage. Any thoughts? Possibly a warning to punt?” The first three responses said to punt or pass, with some elaboration from two of them. According to one responder, “The green could be corrosion, or it could be PVC that was on the coin from storage in a PVC flip. The green stuff [green slime as it is sometimes called] might be just sitting on the surface and easily removed, but you have to break the slab to do it. You can send it to PCGS to do, but it will cost you money. At the worst it could do permanent damage.”
“Pass,” wrote another poster. “Any coin with even the smallest green speck gets a no from me, even raw coins ... With slabbed coins, if they aren’t stored properly, the coins can still turn. Most metals by nature, especially copper, are reactive. That’s why guarantees on [red] designations have a time limit. Wouldn’t think the grading service would straight grade them with the green spots, so I bet the coin was stored improperly.”
Continuing along this line of thought, another poster commented, “But the grading services will seal them in slabs, with straight grades, with PVC on them. I have seen that more than a few times. It would be a service to customers if they would remove the PVC, which is not that hard or time consuming, but they don’t.” Referring to the green spot by the date, another responder wrote, “Could be any number of things, some bad and some nothing to worry about. If you’re worried about the integrity of a coin even in top tier TPG [third-party graders] plastic, I would suggest seeking a coin that is approved by CAC [Certified Acceptance Corporation, home of the Green Bean].” Another collector noted, “CAC is good, but it’s not perfect. It can save you from making a mistake, provided you don’t way overpay, perhaps 98% of the time.” After all these responses to his query, the OP threw in the towel. “I will punt, that’s where I was heading. I’m just looking for a nice clean (not cleaned) VF.”
But that didn’t end the discussion. Another collector wrote, “Being sealed in the slab, I’d take a fast pass. No matter the type of residue, it will only get worse, so unless you are willing to send it in for conservation and reslabbing, find another.” Back came the OP. “So I kept looking for a VF20 14-D in a slab and was unsuccessful. I thought I found one, but at the end I saw the evil green spot. I’ve learned a lot looking for the right one. Again, I generally do not collect copper coins, and after this experience I really need to make sure the coin does not have the PVC and oxidation issue.”
On a positive note, another collector wrote, “The 14-D with a mintage of nearly 1.2 million is fairly common. Keep searching.” Buoyed by this positive comment, the OP responded, “Yep, this will be a challenge finding a nice certified VF with no green gunk on it. I really gained a lot of respect for copper collectors after this experience. I will keep looking; my feeling is that it won’t be too difficult.”
Another responder offered a helpful piece of advice. “Keep looking would be the best thing but be sure to watch for altered 1944-D cents. The first 4 is ground down to look like a 1, but that leaves a bigger space between the 9 and 1 and should be easy to spot.”
Of course, the OP was looking for a certified 1914-D, and an altered 1944-D would never be found in a major TPG’s slab. In addition to the larger space, the altered 1944-D would have the designer’s initials on the bottom of the bust, where it was placed in 1918 and from then on.
In this discussion of the VF 1914-D Lincoln cent, no mention was made about the price. Was the OP attracted to the coin with the green spot because of its low price?
The CDN (Coin Dealer’s Newsletter) value for a 1914-D in VF-20 is $275, whereas its PCGS Price Guide value is $360. Surprisingly, the NGC value for the coin in VF-20 is $575, which has to be a mistake. In the 2024 “Red Book” ( Guide Book of United States Coins), the VF-20 value is $300, and in the five most recent auction sales of VF-20 1914-Ds by Heritage Auctions, the sales prices were all below $300.
It so happens that I have a 1914-D cent in VF-20. I bought it from an eBay sale in January 2000, and it’s certified by NGC. To give you an idea of how much the 1914-D has risen in value in the last 24 years, my cost was only $154.
If you like Lincoln cents and don’t have a 1914-D, I would urge you to buy one. Just be sure it’s certified by one of the major services ( i.e., ANACS, NGC, PCGS) and doesn’t have any green (or any other color) spots on it.