2000 1C "Cheerios" Cent, RD MS66RD 认证号38017814, PCGS号515762

As part of an innovative major PR campaign, in 2000, the United States Mint teamed up with processed food manufacturer General Mills. In addition to the millions of dollars spent on TV ads and other activities, the Mint delivered 10 million Lincoln cents and 5,500 of the new Sacagawea golden dollar coins to the company, which were then inserted into boxes of Cheerios cereal. Each specially-marked box contained one Lincoln cent, which was advertised as being one of the “First Pennies of the New Millennium.” Every 2,000th box included a cent and one of the new Sacagawea dollars, while every 4,400th box had a certificate redeemable for $100 to be paid out in Sacagawea dollars. Given the inclusion of the rare “Cheerios Dollar” variety, the luckier cereal buyer was the one who received the single dollar coin. Each of the newly labeled “Cheerios” cents was encapsulated in a plastic blister pack mounted on a black cardboard card. The card was decorated with images of the date, Sacagawea dollars, and Lincoln cents. Interestingly, while all of the cents issued for this campaign were struck by the Philadelphia Mint, the illustrations on the card are all of “S” coins struck at San Francisco. While NGC uses the designation “Cheerios Promotion” for the Lincoln cent, and PCGS labels them as a Minor Variety, most of the coins are nothing more than ordinary 2000-dated Philadelphia cents. In fact, the only way to differentiate them is the promotional packaging. Therefore, while the third-party grading companies do have a special designation “Cheerios” cents and dollars, the coins must be submitted sealed inside the original packaging to qualify. According to writer Richard Giedroyc, around one million or 10% of the “Cheerios” cents can be identified as Wide AM Reversevarieties, with the letters “AM” in “AMERICA” placed farther apart than the standard type. This means that these coins were struck using a Proof reverse die. However, in order to identify this variety, the coin would need to be removed from the original packaging and would therefore not be eligible to receive the “Cheerios Promotion” designation.