See the RARE PENNY DATES that you can find in CIRCULATION today. Plus, current penny VALUES for those rare penny YEARS!
RELATED VIDEO: RARE pennies you can find in CIRCULATION
RELATED ARTICLE: The Current Value Of Wheat Penny Key Dates
As you will see while flipping through my Dansco coin album in this video, I’ve got a complete set of Lincoln cents from 1909 to the present – every hole is filled.
There are a lot of pennies in this set that are worth more than face value. But the RARE PENNIES that stand out most are these 4 “key date” Lincoln pennies:
1) – 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent
2) – 1914-D Lincoln cent
3) – 1931-S Lincoln cent
4) – 1922 Plain Lincoln cent
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⚡TIMESTAMPS FROM THE VIDEO⚡
00:00 – Rare Penny Dates To Look For (And Current Values)
00:18 – My Complete Lincoln Cent Collection (Started 1992)
01:01 – The 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent ($500)
02:02 – The 1914-D Lincoln Cent ($185)
02:49 – The 1931-S Lincoln Cent ($80)
04:14 – The 1922 Plain Lincoln Cent ($500)
06:20 – How To Find The Value Of Your Lincoln Pennies
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, this is Josh with The Fun Times Guide to Coins. Today we’re gonna talk about penny values. A lot of people want to know what their pennies are worth. And as a coin collector now for over 30 years and somebody who just loves Lincoln cents, I’d like to show you some of the most valuable pennies that you can find.
You see here I’ve got my… This is my coin collection – or the crux of it anyways. This is my Lincoln cent collection. I started working on my first Lincoln cent collection back in 1992. And it’s not 1992 anymore – so I’ve been working on this for some time now. You see here I’ve got basically a complete set of Lincoln cents going from the first Lincoln wheat cents (1909) to the… Well actually, this stops in 2016. Unfortunately, this book stops. I love Dansco albums. But this one does not accommodate beyond the year 2016. So this collection ended a long time ago. But I did complete this set and every hole is filled – as you can see.
There are a lot of coins in here that would be worth more than face value. In fact, you’ll see the first penny that probably sticks out to you is the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent. Now this one is probably… I remember buying it, gosh in 2010. It was a “Very Good 10.” So what that means is it didn’t quite grade “Fine 12.” It’s better than a “Very Good 8.” But yeah, I mean it’s a nice original Lincoln cent. It has not been cleaned. Has no evidence of damage or other alterations of any kind. Has a nice chocolate brown color – so it’s worn (circulated). But it has a nice honest patina to it, and it looks like a coin that’s seen some life.
Now a 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent is generally worth about $700 and up. This one’s a little over that value – because it’s a bit better than a “Good 4” which is the price point I just gave you a minute ago.
Another valuable Lincoln penny is the 1914 Denver Lincoln cent. Now you can see again… This is a “Good 6.” This is a bit better than the base price that you usually see for a Lincoln penny – “Good 4.” It’s got some nice basic details. It’s got a chocolate brown. (Wanna make sure I know which coin I’m looking at there – can get disoriented.) It’s got a nice chocolate brown patina. Again, honest original wear.
A 1914-D Lincoln penny generally retails for about $185. Now again, that’s a base price for “Good 4,” “Good 6” like this. The more detail you see in your coin, the higher the value (generally speaking) for a coin.
Another really great key [date] is 1931-S Lincoln cent. This one here… I got this… In fact, this is actually the first real key date I ever bought for my Lincoln penny collection years ago. And I got it at a reduced price as part of a promotion for an online auction website. And that’s how I afforded to buy my first key date Lincoln cent. Now a 1931-S Lincoln penny… These are scarce. Less than 1 million were made. But because when these coins came out people knew they were rare (they were scarce), a lot of folks held on to them. They bought rolls of 1931-S Lincoln pennies – and saved them. And so really even the worst condition you’ll find for a 1931-S is generally “Extra Fine” to “About Uncirculated 50.” Very few ever saw extensive circulation. And you’ll notice too, if you look at the price guides, that the spread between like XF40 and AU50 and MS60 are very tight. The baseline price is high – around $75 to 80 bucks these days. But an “AU 50” is like $90 bucks. “MS 60 uncirculated” is like $115, more or less. Again, very tight price spreads. Because a lot of these coins were saved in good condition. Or I should say… “About Uncirculated” or better condition.
I also have a 1922 plain Lincoln cent. This is NOT a Philadelphia Lincoln penny like a lot of folks believe. Rather, it’s a Denver Lincoln cent whose “D” which you cannot see on this coin – is just not there! What happened was the reverse die which strikes the tail’s side… (Make sure you’re looking at the right coin again!) The reverse side (or tail’s side) of the coin saw some damage – like extensive damage. So a Mint employee actually replaced the die for the 1922-D Lincoln cent of this die variety and had to also polish out some marks on the obverse side (or the head’s side) die. When that Mint employee polished the obverse die, they inadvertently (as far as we know anyway) removed the “D” mint mark that was on that die. So this is actually a Denver Lincoln penny. But because of the die polishing, the “D” is just not there. It didn’t show up on the finished (or struck) coin. So it’s not really… It’s actually not an error, as a lot of folks would call it. It’s actually a variety – because the coin is basically distinguished by a “signature” or a like “a distinction” caused by the die itself striking every coin just like this. Not an error whereby one, or two, or a few coins are struck in a “mishap” manner on the press. Now a 1922 plain Lincoln cent in this day and age in a grade of “Good 4” (which is about where this coin grades) is about $500.
Now I’ve shown you 4 of the most important “key dates” and “scarce dates” for the Lincoln cent series. There are many others also. The 1955 doubled die Lincoln cent I have, but it’s not in this album. Because there’s not actually a place for it in this album. As you’ll see here some albums actually have a place for the double die. Others don’t. It’s a matter of preference what kind of album you buy… or holder you buy. But yeah, those are the 4 most valuable Lincoln pennies in this album that I’ve got. If you’re looking for the values of your Lincoln pennies…
As you see, I’ve got a stack here (or rather a smattering, I should say) of Lincoln pennies of various dates. I’ve not gone through them to see what’s in here. I’ve been throwing these aside when I find them in circulation or in [coin] rolls when I do roll searching. If you want to look up Lincoln penny values, I’ve actually written an article that’s updated frequently with the current Lincoln penny values – and I’ve got a link for that below.
