My Early Wheats
Private
Updated:
5/22/2026
Views: 3,688
I really love the Lincoln series of coins, partially because I very much enjoy viewing a beautiful copper coin but mostly because of the history that surrounds the man is on the coin. As the 16th U.S. president Lincoln was perhaps the most important president and whos presidency created and existed in one of the most turbulent times the U.S. has ever witnessed. When he was elected in 1860 the southern states saw this as the northern states attempt to reject slavery and the succession from the union began and the civil war was sounded when the southern states fired on Ft Sumter. During his term in office Lincoln not only had to deal with the civil war but a county that was divided in many more ways. He faced many challenges and found ways to unify the country with the Gettysburg address, the call to end slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation. And ultimately his promotion and the successful passing of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish slavery. Sadly his great works also brought him many enemies which led to his death that fateful night at the Ford Theater at the hands of John Wilkes Booth a confederate sympathizer. I have toured the Ford Theater and the Peterson house where President Lincoln was taken after being shot and where he died the following morning. Due to my admiration of Lincoln's life works I found that to be a very moving and special event and would encourage others to tour those two historical places.
The Lincoln cent series is a very long series that spans over 100 years and still going. Throughout that long history of coinage there have been many cycles of good and poor quality at the different mints these cents have been coined at. There has also been some design changes throughout all those years. This set starts with the first year of the Lincoln cent series and ends with the last year of the first design. These coins are known as wheat back or "wheaties" due to the pair of wheat stalks on the reverse.
In my descriptions I have tried to provide some insights as to what years had good quality and those that were not so good for each of the three mints that struck wheat cents. I also have tried to provide high resolution photos of each coin. Many of the photos were taken by Mr. Mark Goodman who is an accomplished photographer and his photos are amazing. The remaining photos I have taken and while not up to the level of those from Mark I am quite happy with most of them. I am also very proud that at the time of the 2020 NGC registry deadline my set is the only set that can lay claim to having 100% photos and descriptions of each coin.
Also I have provided the TPG slab generation for each example I have in my collection. This will seem rather extraneous to some but the slab generation gives us a time frame for when the coin was graded and encapsulated by the TPG. Now that information can be of value for two reasons. First copper is a highly reactive metal and will change color very quickly if stored improperly. Second due to value jumps for many of the key and semi key dates (and many others as well) there is a large incentive to "mess" with or attempt to "improve" the appearance of copper coins in an attempt to sell these coins for more than they are worth before they begin to show signs of having been worked on. So a coin that has been in a holder for ten years or more and still presents as new shows that the coin's surfaces and color are stable and that the coin has been well stored and cared for by previous collectors.
While I cannot provide the entire history of the TPG slab evolution here in this set description there is a reference book available for the NGC and PCGS generations. That book is not completely up to date especially for the newer generations of NGC slabs so you will see a few of my references not include a generation number. Also on the PCGS website they maintain a history of their slabs, this varies slightly to the published reference materials so you will note that I sometimes show two different generation numbers. Also available on the forums of both the NGC and PCGS TPG's are threads that detail the slab generations with descriptions and photos. These can be found by searching those forums.
However there is a downside to these older holders as well. Many years after the inception of the TPG grading firms these firms found that they were paying out large sums under their guarantee programs because many coins had changed enough in appearance that they no longer fit the color designation opinion given by the TPG at the time of encapsulation. This was due to several things including that fact that over time copper color does mellow and change from the color it was at the time of coining. The upshot of this is that the TPG's changed their policy on color and in the case of NGC will not guarantee the color designation on the label after 10 years from the date of encapsulation.
I hope that you enjoy viewing my collection for both the beauty; and in a couple of cases the beasts (lol); of the coins. I also hope that you may find a few tidbits of new information in the descriptions. To you all I hope that your collecting journey is as satisfying as mine has, and continues to be for me. This set and all my sets are in a continuous state of change as I find new or better coins to add/replace former coins. And as I spend time reviewing, updating, improving, and adjusting my comments and photos for each coin.
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My Early Wheats
By Coinbuf
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