1973-S Lincoln Cent Helped by Low Mintage
1973-S Lincoln cent. (Images courtesy usacoinbook.com.)
The 1973-S Lincoln cent may not be considered a special date, but that may change. Certainly, the 1973-S is never going to be in the same class as the 1909-S VDB or 1914-D. In fact, it will never be a 1909-S, 1931-S or even a 1911-S.
The 1973-S may well turn into something fairly special by Lincoln cent standards for the simple reason that among Lincoln Memorial reverse business strike mintages, the 1973-S stands second only to the 1968-S as the lowest mintage.
A few factors are worthy of consideration. While the Memorial cent that was introduced in 1959 can be viewed as part of a Lincoln cent collection, it is truly a collection in its own right. After all, the Memorial cent is more than 60 years old, which ranks well above many other actively collected issues.
A lot of collectors have grown up with the Memorial cent. They are collectors who have little special feeling for the notion of finding a 1909-S VDB in circulation because they never had the chance.
Some might find the notion of the Memorial reverse cent as a collection something that would not be particularly appealing because there are no great rarities or scarce dates unless you include doubled dies. Such a conclusion, however, would overlook the fact that perhaps the most heavily assembled of all possible collections during the 1950s was the Lincoln Cent Book II. That was the Lincoln cents beginning with the year 1941. It contained no great rarities. In fact, the key date was the 1955-S with a mintage of 44,610,000.
The fact that Book II Lincoln cents from 1941 had no truly tough coins was its great attraction. Young collectors, beginning collectors, anyone just getting started in a coin collection, could start with Lincoln cents from 1941 and feel comfortable. It was not a great deal of money. Sometimes we forget that most hobbyists do not start a coin collection by spending thousands of dollars for top grade $3 gold pieces.
The lesson of Lincoln cents from 1941 spells a solid future for the idea of Lincoln Memorial reverse cents. For most, it is a perfect place to start and now for more than a generation it is the only cent they know.
Some might wonder, however, why the 1973-S deserves special attention and not the 1968-S, which stands as the Memorial cent with the lowest business strike production.
The 1968-S may have the lowest business strike mintage of S-mint Memorial cents, but it was also one of the most heavily saved at the time of its release. That is because the 1968-S marked the return of both “D” and “S” mintmarks. The “D” had been missing since the 1964 coinage ended, but the “S” mintmark had been missing since the facility closed in 1955, and the mintmark’s return meant the western mint was operating again.
By itself, that was historic and important, but especially so for the collectors of Lincoln cents. Historically, San Francisco had been the facility that, most years, produced the lowest number of Lincolns. As a result, most Lincoln cent rarities and tough dates came from San Francisco. That caused collectors to actively hoard rolls of 1968-S cents.
The same was not the case for the 1973-S. Fewer were saved. By that time, although not common, the novelty of seeing San Francisco cents again had worn off. There may be opportunity, though the 1973-S cent will never be called rare. ◆
