Coins – October 2019

12 COINS OCTOBER 2019

20th Century Type Set

By Mike Thorne, Ph.D.

F

OR MOST collectors, collect-

ing by design type is prefer-

able to assembling sets of all date

and mintmark combinations. Consider

Barber quarters; the series has three

big keys or stoppers: 1896-S, 1901-S,

and 1913-S. The least expensive is the

1896-S, which lists for $550 in G4 in

this magazine’s pricing guide “Market

Watch,” MW).

If you’re collecting Barber quarters by

type, however, you’ll see that a common

date coin such as the 1916-D lists for

only $325 in MS63. Of course, it’s much

less than that in lower, but still decent,

grades.

Here, I’m going to discuss a different

approach to the 20th century type set,

one requiring both the first year of the

type and also the last year. I will focus

on design types that began and ended in

the 20th century, and I won’t include gold

pieces because of the expense of even the

most common dates. In addition, design

types with either changing obverses and/or

reverses will not be included. All prices are

taken from this magazine’s pricing guide.

One other note before I begin: Most

of the more recent types may be found

with some diligent roll searching.

1. Lincoln Wheat Cent, First Year,
   1909: Four different Lincoln cents
   appeared in the series’ first year: two
   from Philadelphia, one with the designer’s

initials (V.D.B.) and one without (and the

same from San Francisco). The initials

First and Last Years

Shownis anextremelyrare 1913 BuffaloNickel

graded PR63 PCGS Secure with No Designer’s Initals.

Images Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

Shown is the 1909 vdb cent graded

PR66 Red and Brown PCGS secure.

Images Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

birth. With more than five billion cents

minted in 2008, a coin for our type set

should cost less than about $5.

5. Lincoln Cent, Shield Reverse,
   First Year, 2010. With a reverse design
   by Lyndall Bass, more than four billion
   2010-dated Lincoln cents were minted.
   MS65 2010 and 2010-D cents are valued
   at $1.50 each.


6. Buffalo Nickel, First Year, 1913.
   With a design by James Earle Fraser, the
   Buffalo nickel experienced a major design
   change in its first year. Early in the year,
   nickels were minted with the buffalo atop
   a mound; this was changed to a plain later,
   and the plain design continued for the rest
   of the series.
   With a mintage of nearly 31 million,
   the Type 1 1913 is the least expensive first-
   year variety. It ranges in value between $
   in G4 and $150 in MS65. As before, there’s
   little reason to select a low grade for our
   type set, as the 1913 Type 1 lists for $20 in
   XF40 and $60 in MS63.


7. Buffalo Nickel, Last Year, 1938.
   The 1938-D had a mintage of a little over
   7 million, and many of these were saved.
   Thus, the 1938-D is not particularly expen-
   sive. MW values it between $2 in G4 and
   $40 in MS65. For our type collection, $
   seems reasonable for such a beautiful coin.


8. Jefferson Nickel, First Year, 1938.

Although coins from the branch mints

had much lower mintages than those from

Philadelphia, none of the three are expen-

sive, so take your pick. I would choose the

stand for Victor David Brenner, and the

1909 design commemorated the 100th

anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

The least expensive option is the

Philadelphia product without Brenner’s

initials. MW values this choice between

$2 for G4 and $140 for MS65. Obviously,

we don’t want a coin in barely collectible

condition. The 1909 lists for $5 in XF

and $50 in MS63.

The 1909 VDB is another possibility,

ranging in value from $9 in G4 to $125 in

MS65. Although the 1909 VDB had only

about a third of the mintage of the 1909,

many were saved so you should be able

to find a nice one for not much money.

2. Lincoln Wheat Cent, Last Year,


3. For the first fifty years, the Lincoln
   cent reverse featured a pair of wheat ears.
   This reverse design ended with the 1958
   and 1958-D cents. With a combined mint-
   age of more than a billion pieces, MW
   gives each a value of $9 in MS65.


4. Lincoln Cent, Memorial Reverse,
   First Year, 1959. To celebrate the 150th

anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, Mint

Engraver Frank Gasparro replaced the

wheat stalks with the Lincoln Memorial.

With nearly two billion cents minted, a

nice specimen should be inexpensive. In

MW, the 1959 is worth $15 in MS65, the

1959-D $7.50.

4. Lincoln Cent, Memorial Reverse,
   Last Year, 2008. The Lincoln Memorial
   reverse design ended in 2008 to make
   way for the bicentennial of Lincoln’s