By CoinWeek ….
As part of its Sunday, September 1 U.S. coin auctions, GreatCollections is offering one of the most popular modern Mint errors: a 1969-S Lincoln Cent Doubled Die Obverse graded MS64+ RD by PCGS and approved by CAC as strong for the grade.
An extremely rare coin, the 1969-S DDO was included as #2 in Scott Schechter and Jeff Garrett’s 100 Greatest U.S. Modern Coins and has quite the interesting backstory. Discovered in 1970 by Cecil Moorhouse and Bill Hudson, the type was initially denounced as a forgery and seized by the United States Secret Service as a counterfeit. This hair-trigger response was because the Secret Service had busted a counterfeiting ring operated by Roy Gray and Morton Goodman just the year before. Federal agents returned the coins to Moorhouse and Hudson once the errors produced at the San Francisco Mint were authenticated.
According to the PCGS Price Guide, the United States Mint struck a maximum of 100 examples of the 1969-S Doubled Die Obverse Lincoln Memorial Cent. As of August 2024, PCGS has certified only one coin at MS64+ RD with one finer at MS66 RD, for a total of seven grading events. NGC has certified one example at MS64 RD and one finer at MS65 RD, for a total of three. One reason for the type’s extreme rarity and corresponding high value is the dramatic, naked-eye nature of the doubling.
Graded MS64+ RD, the coin currently on offer features a strong strike – especially on the reverse. It boasts a warm amber coloration that throws the effigy of Abraham Lincoln into something of a relief. There are several bag marks on the president’s bust, but they are not distracting.
Currently, the record hammer price for this coin stands at $126,500 for an MS64 specimen sold in a 2008 Heritage auction.
Bidding on this lot ends Sunday, September 1, 2024, at 4:32:51 PM Pacific Time (7:32 PM Eastern). At the time of publication, the starting bid for this MS64+ RD example of the 1969-S Doubled Die Obverse Lincoln Cent is $185,000.
* * *
To search through GreatCollection’s archive of over 600,000 certified coins and notes the company has sold, please visit the GreatCollections Auction Archives.
* * *
