Looking Through Lincoln Cents by Charles Daughtry, Ray Knight (2005, Paperback)

In the face of the recent discussions to abolish the cent, the author Charles Daughtrey has assembled something unique in the series, a comprehensive chronology of the known major and minor doubled dies and repunched mint marks in the Lincoln cent series. The purpose of the book, as stated in the Introduction, is to answer the question "What should I look for in X year cents?" The book begins with a description of the die making process, tips on grading Lincoln cents, including photos of coins in each of the grades between AU58 through AG3, the author's description of his own die variety system in use in the book and sorting tips to search through and attribute Lincolns. The book then provides an overview of the characteristics of each year's mintages of cents from 1909 through 2004. This overview includes details such as mintage facts at each of the 3 mints, die quality, strike quality, the existence and pervasiveness of die varieties, major and minor doubled dies and repunched mint marks. The book is profusely illustrated with close up photos of major and minor doubled dies and repunched mint marks. The book also includes, beginning on Page 166, a case study of the 1955 Struck Counterfeit Doubled Die. This case study provides detailed photographs of the die characteristics of the original and the struck counterfeit of the most well known doubled die in US coinage history. While the book is profusely illustrated, the author is also webmaster of www.coppercoins.com, a website dedicated to the history of the Lincoln cent and is the repository for nearly 9,000 photos of 1,759 die varieties of Lincoln cents as of this date. This book is a must have for the collector of Lincoln cents, serious or casual, and is all the more significant due to the impending fate of the cent. Bravo Chuck!