Help - 2011 S Lincoln penny

[Twitch]

Hey, need a little help here. Found a 2011 S Lincoln penny in my change today. I think it's a proof. Can someone confirm that S's were only made in proof. Also, how common is it to find a proof in your change. I pay a good amount of attention, find a lot of wheat, war nickels, etc, but have never found a proof. Any perspective you can provide is appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

 

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[Canadian hunter]

A pic would be helpful.
To see how proof coin looks you can browse mine recent thread on proof dime I found.
Here is the link: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/coin-roll-hunting/294369-finally-i-found-proof-dime.html
Hope that helps.

 

[rfishoutofwater]

yes those were only in proof sets. nice find!

Hey, need a little help here. Found a 2011 S Lincoln penny in my change today. I think it's a proof. Can someone confirm that S's were only made in proof. Also, how common is it to find a proof in your change. I pay a good amount of attention, find a lot of wheat, war nickels, etc, but have never found a proof. Any perspective you can provide is appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Twitch]

Here are pics.

Thanks.

 

[Canadian hunter]

Proof, for sure! The mirror like background and frost foreground.

 

[Twitch]

So how do proof coins end up in my change? Someone breaks open a 2011 proof case and spends it? I guess that's what has to happen, pretty amazing to consider though.

 

[jrf30]

the frosting give it away as a proof without even having to ask. Yes it is a proof. Great find.

 

[Terp08]

So how do proof coins end up in my change? Someone breaks open a 2011 proof case and spends it? I guess that's what has to happen, pretty amazing to consider though.

Exactly. Same way proof half dollars and any other denomination enter circulation.

 

[Twitch]

So how common is finding a proof coin? Do people find a couple a year, more, less? I ask only because I never really considered them as available to find in circulation.

Thanks.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

proof pennies are incredibly rare, though not worth much. Your proof penny is probrably worth $1 or $2, but the fact that it is meant to be a collector coin adds to the coolness factor.

I've probrably done over 150 penny boxes and have only gotten 3 proof cents, 1959, 2001-S, and 2009-S, note: coins prior to 1968 did not have an S mintmark on them, even if they were proof. 1968-present have the S mintmark on ALL proofs.

The odds of finding a proof penny in circulation would be 1 in 50 boxes, or 1 in 125,000 pennies.

EDIT: not to confuse you, you're not guaranteed a proof penny every 125,000 coins, you could average 1 proof penny every 10,000 coins or you can average 1 proof penny every 1,000,000 coins, it all depends on how many proof cents are put into circulation by ignorant people using the coinstar.

 

[Twitch]

Buffalo boy - thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for. I'll add the coin to my collection. Just an interesting find for me. I put it off to the side today, then had my 6 year old put it into a jar with just over 100 lbs of pennies in it while he was playing. Took me about 10 minutes to dig it back out.