Are Memorial Cents less interesting than Wheaties ?

[rollmeupabe]

After several experiences buying already searched wheat pennies on ebay I decided to start searching through Lincoln Memorial cents. They are ugly ! For some reason the quality of the memorial cents does not appear to be as nice as the wheat cents. I recently searched through some 1970-1973 years and found nothing. The obverse of the coins was very poor. The memorial side was better but very inconsistent. Is this pretty much what others have found ?

[Robert]

The Memorial design was likened to a streetcar/trolley when the cent was redesigned in 1959.

Part of the reason the late 60's cents (I'm thinking 1968) are so mushy on the obverse is that they were still using old hubs. I thought they re-did them in 1969. Full-step reverses aren't easy to find, IMO. Chuck could tell you more.

At least the old copper cents (pre-1983) had some relief in the designs. The copper-plated zinc cents have much lower relief. Look at the hair on Lincoln's head. Ugh!

[cladking]

I find the memorial cents to be far more interesting than the older cents because they were not collected from circulation nearly as widely. When you find old sets of cents most will end in the early to mid '60's and it's very unusual to find a set that goes beyond the early '70's. While all the memorials were saved in unc to at least some degree, the coins in circulation have been allowed to circulate.

These later date coins are not nearly as well studied or as heavily saved as the older coins. The huge attrition experienced by cents now days will make many of the varieties very scarce. While finding new cent varieties is very difficult, there is almost no chance with the older coins.

[GarryN]

I've said here a few times that there is nothing nicer looking than a red wheat cent. I dont know what it is, but the lustre is quite remarkable. With the use of alloys after 1982, the quality has gotten worse and the relief is just awful in my opinion. Toning is nonexistent. But there are still some nice varieties, 1972 has plenty, for one.