The Professional Coin Grading Service Mint State 67 red 1915-D Lincoln cent from the Jerald L. Martin Collection, sold by Heritage Auctions in Orlando, Florida, in January, is the finest certified by both PCGS and Numismatic Guaranty Corp. 

Heritage wrote, “The quality and importance of this 1915-D Lincoln cent speak to the significance of this spectacular collection as a whole.” 

Mint State examples are commonly seen, with nice MS-64 red 1915-D Lincoln cents selling at the $400 level, while solid MS-65 red cents approach $1,000.

Inside Coin World: Most fruitful series for die varieties missing in action: The Lincoln cent series is generally the most fruitful for collectors of die varieties like doubled dies and repunched Mint marks, but not this month.

PCGS has graded just 37 in MS-66 red, and only five in MS-66+ red. One of these five brought $9,600 last year, at Heritage’s 2018 FUN auction, but that example had slight weakness in definition at the center of the reverse. 

The subject MS-67 red coin was strong throughout, aside from slight weakness at the AM of AMERICA on the reverse, with satiny luster and even, copper-orange color.

The cataloger observed, “A minute carbon spot above Lincoln’s shoulder is the only apparent marker for pedigree purposes,” but bidders took advantage of the opportunity to acquire this finest-known Lincoln cent — never before offered at auction according to Heritage — pushing bidding up to $43,200. 

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