The Age of Manufactured Rarity
As you're all aware, the US Mint is giving us all an incentive to purchase their proof sets, and uncirculated set in the form of 3 different Lincoln Cents with a West Point Mint Mark. One of the W Lincolns, standard proof, is already in the wild and will soon be slabbed by the tens of thousands, the other two, a reverse proof, and an uncirculated version. This is a very smart marketing decision by the Mint, they have guaranteed themselves higher sales for each of the three sets and they have also created some needed excitement in the collecting world.
My problem, and I speak only for myself, is the idea that the mint is creating a scarce (rare) coin in an unnatural way. When you look at the history of the Lincoln Cent, certain rarities stand out, the 09-S VDB, the 22 w/o visible mintmark, the 55 Double Die and a few others. In each case, some unplanned set of circumstances led to the creation of the rarity, it did not occur due to some prior decision by the Mint. Now obviously the W Cents are going to have a mintage of several million for each coin, but most collectors of the W Cent will want all three and, at least in the early stages, these Cents are going to be pricey. How high they go and how far they eventually drop is something I cannot speculate about. I do want to get one of them or my Lincoln Type Set, representing another mintmark, but I am going to be patient and wait for that, hopefully, large drop.
So Mint, please do not start making this a habit, I don't want to see a series of W nickels next year, etc.
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