1905 1c MS RB

1905 Cent Production: Cent mintage climbed back up to a near-record level this year.

Survivability: A good estimate of the survivors in various grades might show the high degree of attrition these coins suffered over the years. Each year, between one million and five million cents of earlier years were deemed unfit for circulation, melted by the Mint, and recoined into new cents. My own estimate of surviving coins of this year breaks down roughly, by grade, as: Poor to Very Good, 2,000,000; Fine to About Uncirculated, 50,000; Mint State, Red-Brown, 15,000; Mint State, Full Red, 1,000.

Collecting Challenges: Find an eye-appealing example with a good strike and no problems. While strike is not a common problem with this date, it is worthwhile to search out the best coins you can find for whatever grade level you desire.

Collecting Circulated Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for circulated coins is AU-50 to MS-63RB. Buy only problem-free examples. The major problems to avoid are cleaning, scratches, rim hits, corrosion, and spotting.

Collecting Mint State Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for Mint State coins is MS-65RD. Cents of this date are easily found in all grades except MS-65RD and higher. Fully struck pieces are harder to find than weakly struck. The common weak area is the feather tips.

Collecting Proof Issues: 1905 was not a particularly low-mintage year. Many of the coins, especially early-die-state coins, come with the die-polishing lines commonly found on 1901 to 1907 issues. These do not affect the grade of the coin, or at least they shouldn’t. It seems that many coins that warrant a PF-65 grade or higher are only graded PF-64 because of these die-polishing lines. Typically these coins were graded early in the history of the grading services. Today’s more experienced grader knows not to equate the presence or lack of die-polishing lines into the grade.

There presently are 27 varieties, mostly minor repunched dates. Three varieties are known with doubled-die reverses.