Believe it or not, with all the issues this coin has, it's the best 89P I've found and am actually keeping it! There are spots, scratches, zinc peaking through on the reverse but is the cleanest and most well struck 89P I have found.
Thanks Jim!! Even with the issues it had, this one definitely caught my eye. 89P are the worst in my experience though, they are generally in such bad condition, both because of circulation and being abraided and usually not well struck for some reason.
Always fun to put together your best set.
Bottom line is, you hope for them all to be about what in the old days would be called BU red (I consider your coin that).
People might say some are AU or whatever but in the old simple grading a red cent was pretty much BU red, a more perfect one was choice BU red.
Finding the 80s-90s zincs in nice grades isn't as easy as people think, that's why I keep harping that saving unc rolls of those 80s-90s is almost as good as saving unc wheat rolls. In the time of late date wheats, roll hoarding was in style and popular. In the 80s and 90s everyone said they aren't wheats, they're junk, few saved rolls. Same with some of the clad coins, they weren't silver so nobody cared to hoard them, they were boring old designs. More people saved late date unc silver than the clad coins.
So.... all those collectors making clad sets like 80s-90s, they tend to buy uncs from dealers, many come from cut up mint sets.
So you want proof of how scarce it was that uncs were saved other than mint sets? 1982 1983 had no mint sets. If you see one, it's either fake (made out of the mint) or it was a sov set (ones you could buy as souvenirs if you took a mint tour). So pretend you are putting together a set of unc clad quarters today, go price unc 1982-P, 1982-D, 1983-P, 1983-D quarters. You'll find them but they'll cost $25-50 for singles, that's a lot more than most unc silver quarters.
That was made worse because the economy was not great in those years (early and late 80s you had high inflation, gas prices, stocks were lousy like around 87 was a crash), few people felt like holding onto clad coin rolls, some did save cent rolls but still, some of those cent rolls from the 80s are blowing away the old unc wheat cent roll prices because not that many were saved.
Very nice 89P find Jon! I agree, finding a good grade 80-90's coin is not that easy! Also, thank you Ed for this great explanation of the history of this era and how it has affected the circulation of these coins! It's neat to think about what was going on in the world when different years coins were minted... and how that has affected what we see now!
The reason I bring it up is, we all would get exited if we find red unc wheats like if in your next box it has a nice red 55-S cent.
But, if you ask coin dealers or look at shops they all probably have unc rolls of the late date wheats but few of them will have OBW rolls of 80-90s cents and if they do they might consider them junk and sell em cheap. They're scarcer than people think so if we find nice singles or rolls it's good to hang onto them.
Thank you Ed for all your help!! The more searching I do the more I learn about what is truly rare or at least not as common, whether it be a particular date and mint or just the shape it's in. I have always saved all copper but when I have an 82 I don't bother checking the weight to put in my copper pile, I'll just toss it. After you and the others were talking about the scarcity of particular 82's the other day, I did at least start checking 82 P small dates and have already come up with one copper, so I kept it and will at least keep that particular one after seeing your numbers the other day. Of course I always check the weight of the 82D small date and 83D too.
Very nice 89P find Jon! I agree, finding a good grade 80-90's coin is not that easy! Also, thank you Ed for this great explanation of the history of this era and how it has affected the circulation of these coins! It's neat to think about what was going on in the world when different years coins were minted... and how that has affected what we see now!
Thanks Viv!! With all the zinc poking through on this one, it may not keep well but I put in a flip anyway. I love Ed's info, always appreciated!!
The reason I bring it up is, we all would get exited if we find red unc wheats like if in your next box it has a nice red 55-S cent.
But, if you ask coin dealers or look at shops they all probably have unc rolls of the late date wheats but few of them will have OBW rolls of 80-90s cents and if they do they might consider them junk and sell em cheap. They're scarcer than people think so if we find nice singles or rolls it's good to hang onto them.
Thank you Ed for alerting us to hang on to the good 80-90's we find! I've been doing that all along anyway because I'm a sucker for a pretty Lincoln! Plus... I think about it... my son (who will inherit my collection) will probably not see many of these by the time he starts looking through cents! We always appreciate your insight and expertise Ed!
Thanks Viv!! With all the zinc poking through on this one, it may not keep well but I put in a flip anyway. I love Ed's info, always appreciated!!
Absolutely would do the same thing Jon! Yes, I agree with you, Ed's information is always great! I love it too when he has the time to sit down and share his knowledge with us!
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