Which wheat pennies are worth the most

In fact, with the exceptions of major errors and varieties, no Lincoln wheat penny struck after is worth more than 10 cents in worn condition, and most are worth only 2 or 3 cents. Well-worn steel pennies often trade for 5 to 10 cents apiece in well-worn condition.

There are four major regular-issue key dates in the series and several valuable semi-key dates, varieties, and errors, too. These include:. Finally, there are the varieties and errors, which constitute some of the most valuable Lincoln Wheat pennies in the series. These are not necessarily required for completing a set of Lincoln Wheat cents, yet many collectors pursue them anyway. The chart below provides an approximate estimate on retail values for the Lincoln cents individually listed above.

It also provides values for the Wheat penny date ranges not specifically mentioned above. Value Avg. While the Lincoln Wheat cent is a long-obsolete coin that has been gradually disappearing from circulation over the past decades, it remains one of the first coin collectors begin searching for. Yet, even many of the most advanced collectors stick to collecting Lincoln cents throughout their lives.

A great many numismatists focus on studying and collecting Lincoln Wheat cents exclusively, in part because the series is so complex and lends to so many incredible finds. Because of its rarity, even with smoothed surfaces, this one sold on eBay in January f or a lot of money. One or more damaged die at the Denver Mint resulted in coins struck without a mint mark. While most coins without a mark are from the Philadelphia Mint, Denver was the only mint to strike pennies in It is believed that about 15, to 20, coins were produced in this way.

The image on the reverse is sharper than that on the face since the die used for the reverse was a fresh one. This one appears to be uncirculated and properly stored to avoid wear and retain its bright copper-red color. This penny is another "mistake. The mint returned to using copper planchets in While there are examples of this coin in zinc from both the Philadelphia and Denver Mints, it is estimated that there are no more than 10 from Denver.

Lincoln pennies that were minted between and tend to be worth more since they are almost percent copper, rather than an alloy. Improperly prepared dies can result in coins with a "double" image. The most well-known was in , but this also occurred in coins dated , , , S, , S, and Originally believed to be counterfeit, the government destroyed five coins before acknowledging the error.

In January , a doubled die obverse uncirculated penny, red-brown in color, sold at Heritage Auctions in Orlando. More than 4 million of these coins were minted, but they were inconsistent in quality, so problem-free examples are fairly rare. This particular coin was not only in excellent condition. It also was struck from a fresh set of coin dies. While the excellent condition makes it valuable, it would be so even in worse condition since only nine other wheat pennies were produced in lesser quantities.

Though it had a mintage of just over 1 million which is low for a penny , most of these coins went into circulation so a mint-condition example is rare. The scarcity of this coin increases its value.

The Indian Head penny design dates back to Therefore, this coin carries a premium over the Philadelphia minted coins because of its low mintage. Up until , mint employees used a small letter punch to add the mint mark to the working die by hand. Although very precise in their work, the exact position of the mint Mark tended to vary. Additionally, sometimes employees punched the wrong letter or oriented the letter in the wrong place.

Since coin die production was a very manual labor-intensive process, dies that had mintmark mistakes on them were not scrapped but fixed so that a proper mintmark would appear.

Regrettably, the errors were not always entirely removed, and some remnants of the mistake remained underneath the new mintmark. This is numismatically referred to as a " re-punched mintmark " or RPM. In this example, you can see the remnants of an "S" that was punched horizontally into the die instead of vertically.

Look for the remnants of the previous mintmark near the upper loop of the S. This will be more difficult to see if the coin is well circulated and extremely worn. With a mintage of 1,, coins, the D does not have the lowest mintage in the Lincoln cent series the S VDB and S have lower mintages.

But experts estimate that this issue has one of the lowest survival rates. Keep in mind, in one of the reasons that Lincoln was chosen to be the subject of a new small cent was that it was the th anniversary of his birth.

A lot of publicity surrounded the launch of this new penny, and many people saved them. By , enthusiasm for saving new Lincoln cents decreased and many of these coins ended up in circulation. This is another coin that is frequently counterfeited and altered. Doubled die coins are not double struck and should not be confused with mechanical doubling. Due to a production error in the manufacturing of the working coin die, the mint craftsman made two impressions that were slightly offset from each other.

This is evident because both doubled images are raised. If it was a double-struck coin, one image would be raised in the other one would be flattened.

Since The doubling is extremely narrow, the use of a magnifying glass is suggested. This coin is an extremely popular variety, and demand for it is continuously growing. The No "D" Lincoln penny is another example of a manufacturing process at the U. Mint facility in Denver causing a unique error.

If it were not for a fire at the U. Mint facility in Philadelphia, coin collectors would have never noticed this error. Because of the fire, no Lincoln cents were produced in Philadelphia no mint mark in Researchers think that the Denver mint facility produced approximately , coins without the requisite "D" mint mark. The lack of a mintmark was either due to die abrasion in an attempt to fix a damaged die or a foreign substance clogging the area where the mint mark is supposed to be.

Counterfeiters and unscrupulous people can easily remove the "D" mintmark from a genuine D Lincoln cent. Use caution when purchasing this coin.