The second premium 2019-W Lincoln cent was scheduled to be issued April 17 with the U.S. Mint’s offering of the 10-coin 2019-S Silver Proof set.

Each set ordered at $54.95 will be accompanied by a bonus Reverse Proof 2019-W Lincoln cent. 

The coin is the second version of the three differently finished 2019-W Lincoln cents struck at the West Point Mint to be offered as premiums to customers ordering annual sets.

The 2019-W Lincoln cents are the first struck at the West Point Mint to bear the facility’s W Mint mark.

eBay pre-sales

Many eBay auctions have been completed as presales of the cents (well ahead of actual sales) alone either raw or graded and encapsulated by a third-party grading service, or cents raw along with the Silver Proof set.

One eBay seller has recorded more than 160 presales of individual cents in the plastic poly bags as received from the Mint. 

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One April 10 sale closed at $271.33 for a First Day of Issue labeled Proof 70, red, Ultra Cameo Reverse Proof 2019-W Lincoln cent graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corp.; two other sales the same day for individual First Day Of Issue NGC Proof 70, red, Ultra Cameo Reverse Proof 2019-W Lincoln cents closed at $199.95 each; and an April 11 sale closed at $57.40 for a First Day of Issue NGC Proof 69, red, Ultra Cameo Reverse Proof 2019-W Lincoln cent.

A Proof 2019-W Lincoln cent is the customer premium included with the 10-coin clad Proof set that went on sale March 1 at $27.95 per set. As of April 7, the U.S. Mint had processed orders for 269,817 of the Proof sets.

An Uncirculated 2019-W Lincoln cent is the premium to accompany each 20-coin 2019 Uncirculated Mint set ordered beginning May 14.

According to the Mint, the Proof 2019-W cents are housed in heat-sealed plastic bags manufactured from low-density polyethylene, a product used in a variety of applications including food storage containers.

The Reverse Proof and Uncirculated 2019-W Lincoln cents will be packaged in Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor heat-sealed plastic bags that are low-density polyethylene embedded with a corrosion inhibitor.

The regular coins in the Proof and Silver Proof sets are encapsulated in inert, hard plastic lenses, while the plastic blister that holds the 20 coins in the Uncirculated Mint set is fabricated from polyethylene terepthalate glycol, according to the U.S. Mint. The PETG material is safely used in a number of long-term coin storage products.

Customer returns

The U.S. Mint has received the return of an undisclosed number of the premium Proof cents because of orangish blemishes in the field to the right of Lincoln’s portrait and along the right rim. U.S. Mint officials have yet to provide a cause for the distracting discoloration.

Customers who seek replacements for the Proof 2019-W Lincoln cents must return the defective cents along with the complete Proof set at their own expense, with the cost of replacement and return delivery borne by the Mint.

Although Mint officials publicly announced the return procedures, some Coin World readers, after contacting the Mint’s customer service providers, report being told that the cents are not returnable.

Sets’ other contents

The coins in the Silver Proof set are the same 10 issues included in the standard Proof set but instead of base metals, the Roosevelt dime, five America the Beautiful quarter dollar and Kennedy half dollar are struck in .999 fine silver, all for the first time. 

All previous Silver Proof sets had those three denominations struck in .900 fine silver.

The regular coins in both Proof sets are struck at the San Francisco Mint with the S Mint mark.

The 2019 Uncirculated Mint set, which begins sales at noon Eastern Time May 14 at the U.S. Mint, contains Uncirculated finish examples struck at the Denver and Philadelphia Mints of the Lincoln cent, Jefferson 5-cent coin, Roosevelt dime, five ATB quarter dollars, Kennedy half dollar and Native American dollar. All 20 coins are in their standard base-metal compositions and each carries its usual Mint mark (or none, as is the norm for the Philadelphia Mint cent).

The price of the 2019 Uncirculated Mint set was not yet released as of April 10. 

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