It's hard to imagine how a mintage of 46 million cents could leave us with so few gems, but this is certainly the case for 1920-S. The vast majority of Mint State survivors are poorly struck from overused dies and reveal little or no red color. Those that are certified as MS RD typically have a subdued shade of red, rather than the flashy color associated with P-Mint Lincolns.
This issue was widely hoarded from the mid 1930s onward, until the last examples were found in the early 1960s. 1920-S cents are thus quite common in grades of Fine and lower.
Mintage:
| Philadelphia | Denver | San Francisco |
| 310,165,00 | 49,280,000 | 46,220,000 |