This video will tell you virtually everything you want to know about 1958 penny values.
You’re going to see which 1958 pennies are worth much more than face value — including the 1958 doubled die penny that’s worth $1 Million.
See the actual coin and its auction record for proof that it’s real — no hype!.
⚡TIMESTAMPS⚡
00:00 Intro about 1958 pennies
00:27 Examples of “circulated” vs “uncirculated” MS 63
02:50 Current values for 1958 wheat pennies
03:14 Closeups of 1958 pennies with very HIGH values
05:31 Valuable features to look for on your 1958 pennies
06:27 Examples of 1958 double die pennies worth money
06:46 This 1958 double die penny sold for over $1 million
07:18 How doubled die pennies happen
08:04 Explanation of the 1955 doubled die penny
09:02 I met Stewart Blay who sold this penny at auction
09:50 Details to look for on a 1958 double die penny
10:21 Summary of the key points & takeaways
============================
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, this is Josh with the US Coins Guide and today we’re talking about 1958 pennies.
Now, 1958 was the last year of Lincoln wheat cents. And it was also the year that a very valuable, I’m talking over $1 million dollar, variety was struck.
The question I ask is… Do YOU have that variety? And how much are 1958 pennies worth across the board? You’re about to find out.
So, we have here two 1958 pennies.
One, as you see here on the right, is uncirculated… right here. This one has some light to moderate wear on it. I would say it’s probably more akin to what you might find — if you’re lucky enough in circulation to land a Lincoln wheat cent. They tend to look like this. Or maybe have a little bit MORE wear on some of the important design details.
So, we’ll look here for example at the obverse…
You see some light wear on the beard and jawline of Lincoln, his cheek, the hair, suit, and then on the rim.
And then back to the reverse here for a second…
I’ll go ahead and turn it back around. And light wear on the wheat leaves, the lettering, and some scattered detractions and such across both the obverse and reverse.
That’s pretty typical for a higher-end circulated 1958 wheat cent that you might land in pocket change.
Over here… Let’s bring back this coin here for a second. This is an uncirculated example. You see NO wear anywhere on the obverse, on any of Lincoln’s facial features, or his attire — for example his apparel.
Let’s go back around here… Not a trace of wear anywhere on the wheat stalks, the lettering. The surfaces have some light marks across the obverse and reverse — but nothing I would say egregious. This is probably an MS 63 or 64 RD (or “red”) — with the red referring to the color of the planchet, which is basically an original reddish hue right there.
This is pretty typical again of what you’ll find either in the case of a “circulation find” right here with the light to moderate wear — sometimes heavier wear, which will obliterate most of the key features and details across the obverse and reverse.
But again… Hey, I think any wheat cent that you find in circulation is worth keeping. If nothing else because they are worth more than face value. I’ll tell you how much more in a moment.
This is pretty standard here for a typical uncirculated example that you might buy from a coin dealer or purchase online to, you know, have a nice uncirculated example for your collection.
In general, you’re looking at:
*Between 3 to 5 cents in value for a 1958 Philadelphia or Denver wheat cent with, you know… again, typical wear.
*25 cents to $1 usually for an uncirculated example like this — where you have, you know, no wear, nice coloration but nothing extraordinary.
However, I do want to show you that there are much higher values than THAT for some 1958 pennies.
I’m here on uh Heritage Auctions website — which is www.ha.com and they have over like 25 years of auction archives on here. And look at some of these prices!
Now, again, these are ERRORS right here. So, this is… in this case, this is a 1958 Lincoln cent struck on a dime planchet. So basically a dime blank got caught in the penny production line and was struck with the Lincoln… 1958 Lincoln cent die for the obverse & reverse right there.
This is what we have here… Another dime planchet off-metal error.
But I do want to show you these… Check these out! These are really high-end examples.
This is a 1958 Philadelphia proof strike Proof 68 Deep Cameo. Look at that… $9,300! And this traded, what, in 2024.
We have here another Proof 68 1958 penny with just stellar surfaces. You can see here… very watery fields. Nice, incredible devices here — with some bit of cameo frosting… $6,600.
This is a Mint State 67 Red example. This is basically a business strike that just looks extraordinary — has very few contact marks or other detractions across the surface, you know. It earned over $2,000 at auction back in 2022.
So my point in showing you these prices here is that the nicer the quality of the coin, the higher the value. And it IS possible for your 1958 penny — if it’s uncirculated and it has very few detractions (or marks) and no discoloration, for example. You can be looking at a coin that’s worth hundreds of dollars or even over $1,000… or more.
So, I know that it’s kind of an abstract concept to say that your coin could be worth 5 cents or it could be worth, you know, what… $3,000.
But just bear in mind that that all comes down to the quality of the coin. First off, you have to make sure that your 1958 penny has no wear. If it has ANY wear at all and has NO signs of errors or varieties, you’re looking at a coin, you know, worth certainly less than 25 cents.
But if your 1958 penny has no wear, it has nice color, you could be certainly looking at a coin worth at least 25 cents to $1. But possibly a whole lot more than that. And the higher along the Mint State or Proof grading spectrum that you are with your coin, the higher its value. Which I would imagine makes sense to anybody who’s, you know, privy to how coin grading and how coin valuations work.
But yeah, I mean, just get a load of all these values here! And again, not every search return is always relevant. We have here a doubled die from 1955…
Which segues to a very important point I want to make about SOME 1958 pennies. And that is that there are a few worth a whole lot more than even $9,000!
As a matter of fact, there are at least 3 known 1958 double dies that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And ONE even sold for over $1 million dollars.
I want to show you that coin right now…
So now I’m on the Great Collections website. That is a MAJOR numismatic auction house. Check this out…
A 1958 doubled die penny. Look at what it sold for… $1,136,250 — with the “juice” as some will say… or the “buyer’s premium”.
This is just outstanding! And again, this is one of only 3 known examples of this doubled die.
So basically I know that a lot of our viewers here at US Coins Guide are aware of doubled dies. Basically, it is when the hub…
Okay. So when the dies are made to produce pennies, they have to first be created in a hubbing procedure — which is when the design for the die is imprinted on the die.
Sometimes (especially back in the day when hubbing processes were much more analog), sometimes the dies would be created whereby the initial impression was in one orientation, then the next one was slightly rotated. And that slight rotation (or shift) would cause the die image to be doubled.
And some are very dramatic as we know with the 1955 double die penny — which I actually did a video on some time back. You can find it here at US Coins Guide.
People LOVE those kinds of errors. And as you see here… I’m going to pull up a picture of the 1958 penny…. Alright, check out the obverse. Now, the date doesn’t really show much doubling. I mean, it’s there, but it’s not very evident. But look at “Liberty” — look at the doubling on that! See that right there? And across the motto “in God we trust”. That is your 1958 double die penny.
And if you have a penny that looks like this, you could have a coin worth certainly over $350,000. This one, however, being such a very high grade, sold for again over $1 million dollars. It was a Mint State 65 Red, graded by PCGS.
And I actually got to meet the collector who had purchased this coin before it was sold here, Stewart Blay. God rest his soul. He was certainly one of this generation’s most profound and well-known Lincoln penny collectors. And he had such a love for Lincoln cents — and really all small cents, Indian cents, Lincoln memorial, Lincoln wheat cents. And he had this coin for some time. And he certainly knew quality. So yeah, this is a penny worth over $1 million dollars.
And it’s possible you could possibly have one of these doubled die pennies. If not one of the three, maybe you might have the fourth. Who knows?
But I do want you to again check this out for just your own reference here…
You’ve got to make sure that your 1958 penny has doubling JUST like this. Again, it has to be this dramatic doubling of “Liberty” and “in God we trust” .. right here.
Notice that there’s no mint mark. So, this is a Philadelphia strike. Not a Denver strike, which will have a “D” below the date.
If you’ve got one of these, please drop us a comment below. Or if you have one that looks like this, a penny maybe from this year or a different year that looks like it has doubling, let us know.
And there you have it. That is a bit about 1958 Lincoln wheat pennies. Most of which, in my collection, look like this right here have wear, brown patination, they’re worth 3 to 5 cents normally.
Mint State examples are worth closer to that quarter to $1 price range and look like this normally. They might have some reddish brown coloration, but generally have NO error.
Then there are the errors and varieties. Like, for example, the off-metal error — where the Lincoln cent was struck on the dime planchet. It’s worth a few hundred bucks to a couple thousand dollars, usually.
That’s the same price range for the higher-end Mint State and Proof 1958 wheat pennies.
Then there is the Mac Daddy of ALL 1958 pennies… the doubled die, of which there are 3 currently known. Those are worth 6 figures to over $1 million dollars. And, again, are Philadelphia strike, so they have no “D” mint mark under the date, they have imperceptible (or very slight) doubling in the date, and more drastic doubling in the legend “Liberty” and motto “in God we trust”.
Before I sign off, I think you can tell I’m not in my normal digs. I’m going to see if you can guess where I am. I’m in a very popular Florida locality… tourist destination. Some of you might know where I am or might have at least a guess based on the surroundings.
You probably can’t see anything in the background, but there are some very popular landmarks just over the horizon there that you can see — especially at night. So let me know if you think you can tell where I am.
It’s a really nice day outside. It’s like maybe a high of 60°. Blue skies are smiling at us. And I’m going to head outside for a walk.
But before I do that, I want to thank you for watching this video. Again, this has been Josh with the US Coins Guide signing off and wishing you happy collecting!
