THEZMAN Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 I have these unopened 72 mint cent bags with 15 coins per bag. P,D, and S mint marks. Would these bags contain double die coins ? Trying to decide which way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coinbuf Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 The only way to answer the question is to open the bags. R__Rash and powermad5000 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenstang Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 Welcome to the forum These bags were not issued by the mint, they were packaged after they left the mint. As far as a Doubled Die goes it depends on whether they were searched before they were packaged. The only way to know for sure is to open them and check. I believe there are 9 different DD variations so you have to know what to look for. R__Rash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandon Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 (edited) Welcome to the NGC chat board. Actually, these miniature bags of cents were sold at U.S. Mint gift shops in the 1970s and 1980s. I bought a 1985 bag at the Philadelphia mint myself. I have never heard of a doubled die or other collectable die variety (or mint error) being found in any such miniature bags, and it is highly unlikely, but it is within the realm of possibility. The only 1972 variety that would likely be of substantial value is the variety listed in the "Red Book" (FS-101), which features crisp, clear doubling on all of the obverse lettering and numbers and on the reverse has a diagnostic die scratch above the letter "D" of "UNITED". The other 1972 varieties that are listed in the Cherrypickers' Guide (FS 102-109), are also listed with images on NGC VarietyPlus at Lincoln Cents, Memorial Reverse (1959-2008) | VarietyPlus® | NGC. FS-104 is the rarest. There are also two 1972-D doubled die varieties on VarietyPlus that aren't included in the Cherrypickers' Guide. Edited October 20 by Sandon R__Rash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powermad5000 Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 On 10/20/2024 at 10:07 AM, Greenstang said: I believe there are 9 different DD variations so you have to know what to look for. There are 9 varieties recognized by NGC, 10 listed in Variety Vista, and 27 listed in Wexlers, but imho anything past the tenth variety (DDO-010) is just too insignificant to show the actual doubling and to me is "reaching for straws" at that point. I believe PCGS recognizes the DDO-010 that NGC does not. To the OP, there is no way of knowing whether or not one of these cents could be in one of those small sealed bags. The only way to find out is to open all of the bags and do a visual inspection of each coin in the bag. When coins are placed into a bag and sealed or put into a roll (other than seeing an ender) there is no way of knowing what is inside without opening it. Mary Brooks was Director of the US Mint from September 1969 to February 1977. These bags also seem to be US Treasury sealed which tells me the cents inside were direct from the mint to the bags. It would be unclear whether or not they were "searched" for these varieties before being sealed so I would say there is a chance there could be one in one of the bags but your percentage of success would be extremely low. The Philadelphia Mint alone in 1972 struck 2,933,255,000 cents. NGC has only graded roughly 3,000 of this number and I can only assume some of those 3,000 were hopefuls that the submitter thought might be a DDO and were not. Whatever percentage of that mintage number that were produced as DDO's is your percentage of success but based on the very small sample number of 5 per bag, your chances of finding one in those bags is infinitesimally small. R__Rash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J P M Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 (edited) On 10/20/2024 at 1:21 PM, Sandon said: Welcome to the NGC chat board. Actually, these miniature bags of cents were sold at U.S. Mint gift shops in the 1970s and 1980s. I bought a 1985 bag at the Philadelphia mint myself. I have never heard of a doubled die or other collectable die variety (or mint error) being found in any such miniature bags, and it is highly unlikely, but it is within the realm of possibility. The only 1972 variety that would likely be of substantial value is the variety listed in the "Red Book" (FS-101), which features crisp, clear doubling on all of the obverse lettering and numbers and on the reverse has a diagnostic die scratch above the letter "D" of "UNITED". The other 1972 varieties that are listed in the Cherrypickers' Guide (FS 102-109), are also listed with images on NGC VarietyPlus at Lincoln Cents, Memorial Reverse (1959-2008) | VarietyPlus® | NGC. FS-104 is the rarest. There are also two 1972-D doubled die varieties on VarietyPlus that aren't included in the Cherrypickers' Guide. This is one of those coins I look at and kick myself for passing on. I found one of these FS 101 in an antique shop 7 years ago in a joe's garage holder. It was nice but not $50 nice. The one Sandon has is worth $50 LoL. Oh and Back to the bags. It is not likely that there will be any rare coins in bags that were loaded for retail. I remember when this was discovered and in 1975. We saved every 72 we got in spare change looking for this silly cent. I had jars like this one with 72's just waiting to be found. .... Nope not one was ever found. Edited October 20 by J P M R__Rash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R__Rash Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 (edited) On 10/20/2024 at 9:06 AM, Coinbuf said: The only way to answer the question is to open the bags. Apparently, with the info given, the OP has already opened at least one, and it happened to be the bag with 16 cents containing mostly P, some D and looks like 1 S. Edited October 20 by R__Rash Coinbuf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powermad5000 Posted October 21 Share Posted October 21 Thanks @J P M! Now I want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! J P M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...