5 Rare Coins For You To Find In The Lincoln Memorial Penny Series

by Joshua

Error Coins, Lincoln Cents, Pennies, Pocket Change, Rare Coins

This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy thru these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.


For 50 years we used the Lincoln Memorial penny.

However, in 2009, the Lincoln cent underwent a major redesign that permanently removed the Lincoln Memorial design from our pennies.

While most Lincoln Memorial pennies are worth only face value if worn and only 5 to 25 cents if uncirculated, there are a few special Lincoln Memorial cents that are worth hundreds — even thousands — of dollars.

Here are the values of 5 Lincoln Memorial pennies you should be keeping an eye out for:

3 Other Rare Lincoln Memorial Pennies Worth Big Bucks

The Lincoln Memorial cents listed above are some of the most popular rare pennies you can find in your pocket change or while cherrypicking No-S proof coins from proof sets.

Following are 3 other valuable Lincoln pennies that have recently been discovered by coin collectors. (These are actually some of the most valuable error-variety coins around!)

The first one is:

This rare coin, first reported in 2016, has become one of the most important coins collectors are looking for in circulation!

In fact, the anonymous collector who found the first-known 1982-D Small Date Lincoln Memorial copper penny did so by searching through $50 face value bags of pennies. The lucky penny collector believes many other 1982-D Small Date copper Lincoln pennies (possibly even hundreds!) are out there.

If you hope to find one, you’ll need a scale that can measure in increments of 100th of a gram. A 1982-D Small Date copper Lincoln Memorial penny should weigh around 3.11 grams, give or take a few hundredths of a gram.

It would take meticulous searching to find one of these rare pennies, but the effort is worth it! The 1982-D Small Date copper Lincoln Memorial cent sold for $18,800 in 2017.

Two other rare, off-metal Lincoln Memorial pennies are also known:

You could spend hours looking for these coins and come up empty handed, but don’t despair. These rare pennies are not found easily — but they’re worth every last moment of searching.

The 1983-D copper Lincoln Memorial cent sold for some $15,000, while the 1989-D copper penny has traded hands for $3,000!

How To Find Rare Memorial Pennies

Some of the best ways to look for the rare Lincoln Memorial cents mentioned in this article (or other valuable pennies) is to look through penny rolls, boxes, and bags from the bank.

These can be obtained for face value and provide many hours of treasure-hunting — and, on occasion, lead to amazing treasures like the rare pennies listed above.

Good luck!

See what I found after searching through a can of old bronze Lincoln pennies:


More Info About Lincoln Memorial Penny Values

Don’t have one of the above Lincoln cents? Here are some of our articles to help you find the value of other Lincoln Memorial pennies:

Get the latest Coin tips!

Stay up to date with everything about U.S Coins

We don’t spam! Read more in our privacy policy