Putting Together a Lincoln Cent Set (1934-Date) via CRH/Circulation Finds

[jcole77]

I know lots of you out there collect Wheat Cents. Is anyone out there trying to put a Short Set (1934-Date) together out of their CRH and/or circulation finds?

Since a lot of the Pre-1934 cents are pretty much impossible to find, I decided to see if I could put a modern set together. While putting together the Memorial Cent part of the collection has not been a problem (other than the still missing 1960 and 1970-S small dates), some of the 71 Wheat Cents from 1934-1958 have proven elusive. I've filled 56 of the holes, with the following 15 missing:

1935-D, 1935-S, 1936, 1936-D, 1937-D, 1938-D, 1939, 1939-D, 1940-D, 1941-D, 1943-D, 1947-S, 1948-S, 1951, 1954

While I know I will surely run into the 1936, 1939, 1947-S, 1948-S, and 1951 coins at some point, I know some of the others will be tougher.

Please post your experiences, fellow collectors!

 

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[Dozer D]

You will find that the fun of the hobby is the "thrill of the hunt". We can always go to a local coin shop to buy missing coins, but it's not the same as finding one in the wild. Keep searching, in time you will complete the short set. Good luck, & keep trying.

 

[jcole77]

You will find that the fun of the hobby is the "thrill of the hunt". We can always go to a local coin shop to buy missing coins, but it's not the same as finding one in the wild. Keep searching, in time you will complete the short set. Good luck, & keep trying.

Thanks for the well wishes!

I've been collecting since I was 5 years old, but only in the past 6 months have I really gotten into CRH (I've done it sporadically through the years). So yes, the "thrill of the hunt" is something which always keeps me going. Yesterday, I knocked off the 37-S and 54-S. The two coins I'm most concerned about finding are the 39-D and 54 Philly as I've never found either in the wild in all of my years of collecting out here on the Left Coast.

 

[GMan00001]

Although I haven't actively been CRHing for a couple years now as I have been focused on other hobbies, I believe I was down to around 10-20 wheat cents left to be found in circulation for the whole range from 1909-1958 and all those finds were all in the past 10-12 years or so. Most of the remaining ones were the extremely tough pulls like 1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1931-S, etc. But I did find at least a couple of the top 10 toughest in the 1924-D and 1914-S. I may have pulled another 1 or 2 of the toughest, but I just don't remember off the top of my head and since I am at work and not at home, I can't just go look it up at the moment.

And from back a few years when I was keeping a tracking list with all finds from circulation, the group on this forum had found all wheat cents in circulation, so even the full set is theoretically possible.

 

[jcole77]

Although I haven't actively been CRHing for a couple years now as I have been focused on other hobbies, I believe I was down to around 10-20 wheat cents left to be found in circulation for the whole range from 1909-1958 and all those finds were all in the past 10-12 years or so. Most of the remaining ones were the extremely tough pulls like 1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1931-S, etc. But I did find at least a couple of the top 10 toughest in the 1924-D and 1914-S. I may have pulled another 1 or 2 of the toughest, but I just don't remember off the top of my head and since I am at work and not at home, I can't just go look it up at the moment.

And from back a few years when I was keeping a tracking list with all finds from circulation, the group on this forum had found all wheat cents in circulation, so even the full set is theoretically possible.

The 24-D and 14-S are definitely very nice pulls from circulation! That's pretty amazing that a full set is possible. I saw on another forum where someone found a 14-D wheatie this past week, so I now know indeed anything is possible!

 

[jcole77]

Knocked off two more tonight: 1936 and 1947-S. Two coins I knew I would run into at some point... My money is on me finding either the 1939, 1948-S, or 1951 next.

 

[enamel7]

Although I haven't actively been CRHing for a couple years now as I have been focused on other hobbies, I believe I was down to around 10-20 wheat cents left to be found in circulation for the whole range from 1909-1958 and all those finds were all in the past 10-12 years or so. Most of the remaining ones were the extremely tough pulls like 1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1931-S, etc. But I did find at least a couple of the top 10 toughest in the 1924-D and 1914-S. I may have pulled another 1 or 2 of the toughest, but I just don't remember off the top of my head and since I am at work and not at home, I can't just go look it up at the moment.

And from back a few years when I was keeping a tracking list with all finds from circulation, the group on this forum had found all wheat cents in circulation, so even the full set is theoretically possible.

Gman! Good to hear from you! Hope you're doing well!

 

[GMan00001]

Gman! Good to hear from you! Hope you're doing well!

I'm doing well. I still occasionally still check the forum here, but not consistently.

I have alternated between collecting coins and sports cards most of my life and for the past few years I have been pretty much gone full tilt toward sports cards again and just haven't done much coin stuff. The only down side of sports cards since I tend to buy whole collections in bulk is I can't just bring the ones I don't want back to the seller for my money back. As a result, they quickly use a lot of space not to mention the cash flow patterns being just a "wee bit" different if you don't figure out how to sell doubles/extras (which I haven't been trying to sell nearly as much as I probably should be).

 

[Jajo]

I have all the ones from 37 to 58 and am missing 35S and 36D if i were putting together that set.

 

[Yinzi50]

I found all 34 and plus except 38S and 39D. I gave up early this year and started to buy the missing ones. Now I only have 1909S, 1909S-VDB and 1923S left. I live at the right coast btw.

 

[GMan00001]

My curiousity got the best of me and I looked at my tracking lists that I hadn't looked at in a couple years. I am officially down to 12 wheat cents left to find in circulation to complete the set and that includes both the small and large S mintmarks on 1928 and 1941.

What remains for me: 1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1910-S, 1911-S, 1912-S, 1913-D, 1914-D, 1915-S, 1922-D, 1926-S, 1931-S, 1932

Also found 18 different indian head cents with the earliest being 1881.

 

[enamel7]

Yeah, it was fun back in the day when you kept the totals of every date found in a year for all of the denominations.

 

[Immy]

I started a big casino search on Jan 1st of 2008 (yep, there were still penny slots back then) to see how long it would take me to find 71 of the 140 wheats. Accomplished it by the end of May and got the all the 34-58 years except nine: 34D, 35D, 36D, 38DS, 39DS & 43PD.

With some diligence you'll get come pretty close to completing it jcole77, or at the very least cut the missing list down to a handful of dates.

This has turned into an old timers thread! Seeing my buddies enamel & GMan brings back good memories.

 

[enamel7]

Same here Immy! Hope you're doing well!

 

[jcole77]

I started a big casino search on Jan 1st of 2008 (yep, there were still penny slots back then) to see how long it would take me to find 71 of the 140 wheats. Accomplished it by the end of May and got the all the 34-58 years except nine: 34D, 35D, 36D, 38DS, 39DS & 43PD.

With some diligence you'll get come pretty close to completing it jcole77, or at the very least cut the missing list down to a handful of dates.

This has turned into an old timers thread! Seeing my buddies enamel & GMan brings back good memories.

Thanks! If we combined our finds, we would only be missing 5 coins: 35D, 36D, 38D, 39D and 41D! I'm very persistent, so I'm going to keep at it!

 

[jcole77]

My curiousity got the best of me and I looked at my tracking lists that I hadn't looked at in a couple years. I am officially down to 12 wheat cents left to find in circulation to complete the set and that includes both the small and large S mintmarks on 1928 and 1941.

What remains for me: 1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1910-S, 1911-S, 1912-S, 1913-D, 1914-D, 1915-S, 1922-D, 1926-S, 1931-S, 1932

Also found 18 different indian head cents with the earliest being 1881.

Very nice!!! I see you've found a mint-marked coin of every year starting with 1911 except 1922... That's quite an accomplishment in itself! I'm assuming either the 24-D or the 14-S was the most valuable coin you've found in the Wheats.

 

[GMan00001]

Very nice!!! I see you've found a mint-marked coin of every year starting with 1911 except 1922... That's quite an accomplishment in itself! I'm assuming either the 24-D or the 14-S was the most valuable coin you've found in the Wheats.

One of those would likely be the most valuable wheat cent, but not the most valuable cent overall. I found a 1992-D close AM a few years back that is likely more valuable.

 

[thurmownator]

Same here Immy! Hope you're doing well!

Good to see some fellow "old timers" for sure. Similarly, I'm on periodically, posting sparingly, and also long for the old days.

Stay well and happy CRHing guys !

 

[enamel7]

Good to see some fellow "old timers" for sure. Similarly, I'm on periodically, posting sparingly, and also long for the old days.

Stay well and happy CRHing guys !

Glad to hear from you too! Man, we need to start a reunion forum. I suggest you newer members go back several years and see what we old timers were finding. Oh for the good ole days!

 

[jcole77]

Knocked off the 41-D yesterday... in a 2 day Wheat drought... only 2 in the past 2,000 coins...