United States 1968-D Lincoln Cent
Coinage Act of 1965, speculators and coin collectors drew the ire of the
Mint, the
Treasury, and many members of
Congress who thought that the bustling coin hobby was to blame for the national coin shortage. Anybody who has studied a
Red Book will understand that the mintages for clad U.S. coins post-1964 dwarfed those of coins struck before. Had collectors truly been the primary cause of the shortage, then the Mint would have seen a return to normalcy as collector enthusiasm for contemporary issues faded as it did with the arrival of clad dimes, quarters, and half-dollars and their astronomically high mintages. Obviously, that’s not what happened.