1992-D 1C Close AM, BN (Regular Strike)

Despite billions of cents being produced for this year alone, only about a dozen examples or so are known to exist for the1992-D Close AM variety.

The 1992-D Close AM cent was struck with a reverse design intended for the following year of 1993. Currently, this is the only date in the entire Lincoln cent series which has a transitional design which is visible to the naked eye as a non error coin. The coin was originally discovered on December 2001. Colin Kusch was the original discoverer for this very scarce variety.

To determine if a 1992 cent is of the very scarce and valuable variety, the letters AM of AMERICA will be very close to each other and almost touching. Also, the initials FG on the reverse are further apart from the memorial building. A regular 1992 business strike should be the apposite as the letters AM of AMERICA will be spaced further apart from each other.

Some examples of the 1992-D Close AM variety have surfaced in online auction sites. With most examples being in the AU grades.

• Early in 2007 an MS64 Red example sold for about $3,000 dollars. • Later in 2007 a PCGS MS64 Red example sold for well over $6000.

• In 2008 two raw AU coins sell for $100 each on EBay which were later confirmed to be authentic.

• In 2008 an example in the higher grades of AU sold for around $750. on EBay. • Early in 2008 a PCGS AU58 example sold for about $2500. on EBay.

• In 2008 a raw example sold for about $300 to a collector.

• In 2008 a separate corroded example sold for about $250 to a dealer.

• Late in 2008 an MS61 Brown graded example sold for $1,000. on EBay.

• In 2008 a PCGS AU58 example sold for about $2500. on EBay.

• In 2009 a PCGS AU53 example sold for over $3,000. on Teletrade

There is also a more scarcer variety for this year which is the 1992-P Close AM variety also struck with a reverse design intended for the following year. As of 2009 there are only three examples known for the 1992-P Close AM variety.

The 1992-D Lincoln Memorial Cent, Close AM Variety

Although extremely rare, the 1992-D "Close AM" Lincoln Memorial Cent (#83101) is one of the great circulation finds a collector can hope to locate. Granted it will take immense luck and quite a bit of searching.

"Close AM" refers to the spacing between the letters A and M in AMERICA on the coin's reverse. This variety occurred when dies intended for 1993 production were "muled" with 1992 obverse dies at both the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. While the PCGS Population Report indicates that the Philadelphia strike is the rarer of the two, the Denver issue is also remarkably scarce. To date, just over 100 examples of the 1992-D Liincoln Cent, Close AM variety have been discovered, with most grading between PCGS AU50 and PCGS AU58. While collectors tend to avoid circulated examples of modern issues, the Close AM is a valuable coin in any grade.

In addition to the letter spacing, a secondary diagnostic for this variety is the position of Frank Gasparro's "FG" monogram: on the Close AM variety, the initials appear slightly further away from the base of the Lincoln Memorial than they do on standard 1992 dies.

Variety Discovered in 2001

Collector Colin Kusch discovered the first Close AM die pairing in December 2001. According to variety expert John Wexler, the Kusch discovery coin was struck using dies in a middle die state, indicating that the Denver Mint had made a concerted effort to destroy the experimental strikes but that a few were released. A survey of known examples backs up this hypothesis. Minnesota collector Greg Smith discovered a second die pairing in 2017.

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