The best thrill I've had collecting 1959 to date Lincoln's...

was opening a ratty, old hand-wrapped paper roll of 1963 BU cents and finding gem after gem all with deep shades of brown, blue, orange, or sea-green. I started out as a kid saving shiny red pennies and trying to get every date and mm of the memorial series, but recently my goals have shifted. The toners are more interesting to me these days, and I am trying to make a complete 1959-1982 set with as many toners as I can find from searching old rolls.

Why the 1982 cutoff? Basically, the newer coins haven't had time to mature color-wise, and I can't stand zinc. I want only the real copper cents in this collection. Also, I want this set to be NGC certified so that there's no doubt about the color being natural, and that the condition will be of uniformly high quality. The minimum grade is set at MS65 ( RD or RB designations don't matter so long as there is some obvious and beautiful toning.) NGC is very tough on moderns, especially non- red cents, so 65 seem to be the lowest consistently nice grade in my eyes.

Non of these criteria are set in stone, and I have made a few exceptions. A couple coins have come already slabbed via eBay, and another two were part of a collection of 2x2's I purchased rather than roll finds. I have occasionally kept some MS64's over their 65 sister coins just based on how much I liked the toning and color.

Overall, I am loving the way this set is coming together, especially with the range and variety of toning patterns and colors. I've even made a few top pop's including a 67RB 1971, and the only RB 1974-S that NGC has ever graded. Check out some of the coins in the custom sets on the registry.

As a small sample of that 1963 roll, the photo is one of those coins that just recently came back from the graders. They gave it a 65BN.

Cheers and happy collecting!

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