7. 1969-S Doubled Die Lincoln Cent

Ron Guth: The 1969-S Doubled Die Obverse cent is a very rare variety that has enjoyed steady price appreciation over the years. Sam Lukes, a dealer from Visalia, CA, recounts the following:

"In 1994, a collector from New York found an example of one in an uncirculated roll that subsequently was graded MS64 RD by PCI [a now-defunct grading service]. I bought the coin and sold it on Aug. 24, 1994, to a client for $10,000. I bought the coin back and sold it on April 4, 1995 to another client for $10,900. I repurchased the coin and sold it again to a collector on June 22, 1999 for $25,000. The coin was later crossed to PCGS at the same grade, MS64 RD, and I was happy procuring this ‘old friend' once again and reselling to another excited collector on Nov. 26, 2001 for $35,000. Several months later, just as the present numismatic ‘bull market' was getting started, I was very fortunate in acquiring the nicest of two PCGS MS65 RD examples, which I then sold to a prominent East Coast collector for a record $59,500 on March 21, 2002." (1)

In December 2007, an anonymous collector purchased two rolls of 1969-S cents from a Michigan coin dealer and found one 1969-S DDO cent in each roll.

On March 29, 2010, a 60-year-old veteran named Brian discovered a high-grade example of the 1969-S Doubled Die in a roll of cents he had collected years earlier from circulation.

Since then, numerous other examples have been discovered.

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