Comparison, 1931-S Lincoln Cent vs the 1931-D Lincoln Cent 0

[leeg]

My personal opinion is that the 1931-D Lincoln Cent is harder to find "nice" than the 1931-S Lincoln Cent.

Thoughts?

A 31-S I used to own:

A 31-D I used to own:

[LINCOLNMAN]

That has been my experience, although the 31S can be tough as well. Many were saved in MS, but spots and preservation problems, coupled with lousy strikes, made it hard for me to find a really nice one, ignoring the grade on the plastic. The two examples you show appear to me to illustrate this. 

[leeg]

5 hours ago, LINCOLNMAN said:

That has been my experience, although the 31S can be tough as well. Many were saved in MS, but spots and preservation problems, coupled with lousy strikes, made it hard for me to find a really nice one, ignoring the grade on the plastic. The two examples you show appear to me to illustrate this. 

How right you are.

 

[Coinbuf]

The 31-S is easier to find in nice condition up to MS64 as the low mintage was well known and the issue was heavily horded.  Unfortunately the poor quality blanks and strikes make finding fully struck, lustrous, spot free MS examples tough and very difficult in the MS65 & MS66 grades with no MS67's at either NGC or PCGS.  The 31-D with better than 4 times the mintage was better coined than those from San Francisco but as this issue was not horded and more made it into circulation it is tougher to find examples in the lofty grades of MS65 and MS66.  Interestingly enough while tougher to find in the higher grades the 31-D does have one example graded as MS67, an outcome of the higher mintage I suppose.  These are both tough to find nice with a full strike and no spots or other distractions.  Both the 31-S and 31-D in my sets now (both MS65) are coins that I would like to replace someday if I can find suitable candidates.