James A. Porter

From the age of six, my mother and father encouraged me in discovering the fascination of numismatics, and having their cash register handy to provide my inspiration, I looked longingly at my day's salary in the five compartments of the register. I worked on Saturdays sometimes with my dad at his paint store, and this is what he generously paid me for my "work". The end of a long day starting at six am and ending past 5:30 pm, my favorites already chosen earlier in the day, I raided the gleaming nickel-plated National Cash Register for my $3.00 earned. A lot of money for a six-year-old in 1958, with real silver in the change that I selected. I avoided the bright and shiny uncirculated coins, and went immediately for the oldest, most worn out ones instead. Had I known then what I know now, my tactic would have been just the opposite. I saved one of my paydays at Frost Paint & Lacquer Company inside a small plastic box, which I still have today. In 2009, a new series of reverse sides for the Lincoln Cent was planned, and this awakened that childish excitement in me again.

In 2009, the four different reverse sides of the Lincoln cent were changed for a one-year only commemoration of Abraham Lincoln's bicentennial celebration. Congress also passed an act which limited production of all low denomination coinage for the year, as an attempt to bring hoarded change back into circulation. This failed, as many hoarded the new 2009 cents because of their relative scarcity compared to other years previous mintages. As one of the hoarders, I was very busy cataloging and documenting data on where and when I found the elusive doubled die errors and other anomalies minted during this unique year for the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints. In 2013 I published this volume, which helps both seasoned collector and new numismatists to find, attribute and profit from the sale of the numerous errors that are still available to find in U.S. Mint Boxes LP1-LP4.