Lincoln cent count.

[coppercoins]

I'm considering the possibility of having a Lincoln cent circulation count and reporting the results on this site. Here's what it would involve, and what it would show:

It would involve everyone here getting $50 in cents from circulation and separating all the coins by date, mint mark and variety (1960, 1970S, 1974 and 1982) and reporting back to a central point how many of each date you found. The information would be placed into the database, then the whole thing repeated after another year or so. After ten to twenty times of collecting, sorting, and counting Lincolns, we would end up with an exact count of how many Lincolns were found in circulation of each date and mintmark over a given time.

What would this show? Easy...it would show us whether any of the now considered common dates are actually getting rather difficult to find in circulation - who would have know that the 1986 cents would be so difficult to find today?

We would need people from all regions of the country to participate so we wouldn't end up with an offset to the east or west in our count, and it would be good if we could get at least 20 people involved. All it would take is getting 100 rolls from the bank, sorting them by date and mintmark, writing down your findings, then reporting them back. You can take the coins back to the bank when you're finished.

I'll get into more detail as we go along...just let me know for now if you would be interested in participating.

[Iain]

Sounds like a great idea...I might even be able to pull data from different areas of the country. I already pull, sort and count all copper (1959-1981) Memorials that I get in change so it wouldn't be too much additional work for me.

Iain

[coppercoins]

Lincolnsense - This would not attempt to prove anything based on the production of cents, rather the survivability of cents. If we take a sampling from many different areas of the country to represent "circulation" and sort them, we may come up with a dramatically low number of certain dates and mints - proving why would be a different experiment entirely, but just knowing which dates are running out faster than others with respect to their mintage would give us some idea of what's NOT there. Another thing it would help to solve is the huge question surrounding the 1974 large and small date cents - it is suspected that these were minted in nearly equal quantities from all three mints, but we can't tell for sure until we take a sampling from general circulation and compare the numbers.

Iain - I appreciate the support, and yes, the help from as many different locations as possible would help. Let's see who responds from where then we will have a better idea of what parts of the country are missing in the representation. Then we can talk about the possibilities as to what you can provide that will fill the gaps.

Thanks folks..

[Bob P]

This idea sounds awfully familiar Chuck. Gonna have a go at it again huh? Well, you know you can count me in...anytime.

Bob P

[coppercoins]

Actually, Bob, the original idea back in 1998 when I started this was to do it every year at least. Other developments over time have precluded the ongoing continuation of this experiment, but I believe now I am finally ready to conduct it annually. Right now I'm just taking names, I'll give specific instructions and give out some goodies to the volunteers once I can get everything situated.

[cladking]

I am very reluctant to volunteer on this very important project because it's so much work. But if you can't get another person from the Chicago area then I'd do it. Wheat cents are in and out of circulation because of collectors and should be excluded from the "N". Solid date rolls and coins less than three years old should also be excluded. All the other circulating coins move around so much that they are thoroughly mixed after just a few years, but cents tend to get very little real circulation so don't mix as well. Even the thirty year old cents are often AU because they've sat in a coffee can or sock drawer almost since issue. Some of the memorials are exceedingly tough to find because the attrition on these coins is extremely high. 360 billion have been produced but only about 100 billion are in use (read this in coffee cans). The rest have been destroyed and lost. This means the surviving "rare" dates are just swallowed up in the staggering numbers of more recent dates.

[Steve]

You can count me in, Chuck.

[GarryN]

I am also in the Chicago area and will participate. It would be interesting to get two diofferent perspectives from the Chicago area to share, however.

Chuck, I understand you just want us to record cents obtained in everyday circulation, any need to keep any of the cents, or record any other criteria other than date and mintmark?

[coppercoins]

Garry,

There will be nothing other than splitting the coins by date and mintmark, except for the years that have appreciable varieties - 1960, 1970(S), 1974, and 1982. For those dates I would need a split count on each variety. Instructions and examples will follow (including samples through the mail) to those participating to assist in splitting the different varieties.

Given that someone sorts them in the easiest way possible and takes a count, it should take no longer than four to five hours to complete the experiment for each person. I am working toward a sampling of 250,000 coins or more all together, which would be 50 people sorting $50 in coins. And yes, I would want everything in the sample counted. If this can be repeated at regular intervals over a five year period of time to accumulate a count on over 10,000,000 coins, I believe we would have enough of a sampling on which we could draw some relatively safe conclusions.

[Glen]

I have already do one bag that way this year.
Where do I send the data?

Glen

[coppercoins]

[Glen]

No I was unaware of the 74 LD & SD is that the P mint?
No on the 82 .
I guess I'll have to do it again.

Glen

[coppercoins]

Please wait for instructions...right now I am only gathering a head count, not asking that people go ahead and perform the coin sort. If you attempt to do it too early and don't do it right, I will not be able to use the data you gather....so please wait.

The 1974 cent comes in both versions for all three mints, and there are much easier ways of determining the metallic content of the 1982 cents than weighing them - I will publish and send out a complete guide for each volunteer including samples of most of the different large and small date coins (minus the 1970S). I first need to know how many people there will be....that's what I am working on now.

[Bob P]

Chuck,
Just curious as to how many people would you consider a good number to do this with? Is it the number of people, or their location that would be more important? Just as folks from New England would tend to get more P mint coins, and folks from Texas would get more D mint coins, there are some of us who seem to be right in the middle. I get just as many P coins as D coins here. Another things to consider is those places which have a large tourism base. Where ever people vacation, they tend to take their coinage with them. I can't see someone vacationing to Florida dragging a 5,000 count bag of pennies, but I am sure the numbers are influenced somewhat by tourism.
The main reason I ask is because there may be more people around this area willing to do the counting, but will their efforts duplicate mine, or will the data actually help in the long run?

Bob P

[Robert]

Chuck - Is there a time limit you have in mind for completing the count?



Steve - Is that a Thai 1 satang coin you have there? Looks like the date is 2461 BE. Nice condition for 1918 AD. Do you collect foreign or is that particular coin special to you?