All of the RARE pennies in circulation seen in this video are Lincoln pennies!
In this video we’re talking about rare pennies worth money that you can find in circulation today. These are all rare Lincoln pennies! (Some of these rare Lincoln cents, including Wheat pennies and Indian Head pennies, are worth $500+ apiece.) So let’s get started exploring rare pennies in circulation that you can find today!
⚡TIMESTAMPS FROM THE VIDEO⚡
00:00 – Rare Pennies In Circulation You Can Find Today
00:32 – Wheat Penny Values
00:56 – Rare 1909-S VDB Penny Explained
01:48 – Rare 1909-S VDB Penny Value
01:56 – Rare 1914-D Penny Value
02:20 – Rare 1922 Penny Value (1922 Plain Cent / 1922 No D Penny)
03:17 – Rare 1931-S Penny Value
03:55 – Rare Bronze 1943 Steel Cents vs Common 1943 Steel Cents
04:56 – Rare 1955 Doubled Die Penny
06:13 – Rare 1972 Doubled Die Penny
06:25 – Rare 1983 Doubled Die Penny
06:35 – Rare 1984 Doubled Die Penny
06:58 – Rare Indian Head Pennies
07:08 – Rare 1859 Indian Head Penny
07:21 – Rare 1877 Indian Head Penny
07:43 – Rare 1856 Flying Eagle Penny
07:59 – Rare Large Cent Penny Coins (1793 to 1857)
08:23 – Summary Of Rare Pennies In Circulation
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, this is Josh with The Fun Times Guide and I want to talk a bit about rare pennies.
A lot of folks ask me about rare pennies. They want to know what they’re Lincoln Wheat cents are worth or their Indian Head pennies or Doubled Dies. We’ll talk a bit about that today.
Just quickly I want to make sure everybody knows that while old coins are worth a lot of money, Not ALL of them are worth lots of money. Most of the old Lincoln cents you find in circulation You know… those that have the 2 wheat stalks or the wheat ears on the reverse are rather common in the relative sense and worth 3 to 5 cents apiece. But, having said that, not all old pennies are worth just 3 to 5 cents apiece. In fact, we’re going to talk briefly about the more valuable types of coins you could hopefully find in circulation.
And the piece that a lot of folks are always itching to find is a 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent. Now, it was made in the first year of the Lincoln cent series (1909) at the San Francisco mint — which is the “S” mintmark that you see just under the 1909 date and contains the initials of the coin’s designer — Victor David Brenner (or VDB).
On the reverse side, or tails side of the coin just under the wheat stalks… Very small right in there… which you probably can’t see too well in this video, but they are there in very small font. Just 484,000 of those coins were made. And maybe 20,000 exist today. A lot of those coins being lost in circulation…and fires… and being buried… and all those things. It’s worth $500 to $1,000. Again, five hundred to a thousand dollars — I should say, I just want to make sure that’s clear… not five hundred thousand dollars. But $500 to $1,000.
Another important rarity is the 1914-D Lincoln cent. A little over 1 million were made and they’re worth between $125 and $160 in well-worn condition like this here. Better versions are worth closer to $300 to $500 with light wear. Some pieces that have no wear (the uncirculated versions)… Some of them pull 5 figures. I mean, these are very scarce coins in uncirculated condition.
A lot of times, people want to know what their 1922 pennies are worth — because it’s well known by collectors anyway that there is a certain variety (a rare variety) that does not show the “D” mintmark. Which you would normally find, as in the case of the 1922-D here — just under the date. This variety does not show a mintmark at all. It’s called a 1922 Plain or No-D Lincoln penny. It’s a variety that was created sort of by accident when some damage was done to the die that strikes the design on this coin. Well what happened was one of the Mint employees decided to get rid of the damage by polishing away the marks that were on the die. And in doing so, he or she obliterated the “D” mintmark, that would be seen under the date and thus, there is no “D” — seen here. These pieces are worth between $350 and $1,000 in well worn condition and up to 5 figures in uncirculated condition.
The 1931-S Lincoln cent is one of the more common rarities which sounds kind of kind of uh… Oxymoronic as it were. Common in that it’s not as rare as the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent or the 1922 No-D. But nevertheless it’s scarce — with only 866,000 examples being made (less than a million). This piece here is an About Uncirculated condition. It’s worth about $100. Well-worn varieties or examples are worth $50 to $75 in most cases.
And then we keep on going through here, and we see the steel cents — which are actually very common coins.Uh… Some folks confuse the steel cents — or rather the steel cents and the bronze version of the 1943 penny, which were struck by accident when some of the bronze planchettes from 1942 were left in the hopper in 1943 and got stamped with the 1943 design. Now the bronze 1943 steel cents are worth over $100,000 a pop. These are worth maybe $2 apiece. You can tell a rare 1943 cent from a common one if your 1943 cent sticks to a magnet like these would — it’s made from steel. It’s worth maybe a buck… 15 cents if it’s worn. If it does NOT stick to a magnet — like these 1942 pennies would not stick to a magnet… you could be looking at a coin worth 6 figures. So again, the 1943 bronze cents are the rare ones and the steel cents are the common examples.
Now… Looking at this page here in my Lincoln Cent Collection, you probably notice there’s one coin that you don’t see here. And that’s the 1955 doubled die Lincoln cent. Well, it’s not in this album. But I do have an example here. This piece I bought individually some time back and it’s an example of the 1955 doubled die — which is by most accounts the most popular error variety ever made in U.S. coin history. You might be able to make out here in this video that there’s some doubling on the date and the Liberty inscription ‘In God We Trust’. That was caused when the hub, which imprints the design for the die (the die which strikes these coins individually)… The hub impressed the design upon the die for this coin twice and at different angles — which you can make out with the doubling here in the design. Now about 20,000 of these coins were made. When they came out in the fifties, they were very popular. They caused quite a stir actually among both collectors and non coin collectors. And because of that early press this coin got, it became very popular — both inside the hobby and beyond. And for that reason, it’s a very high demand coin. It’s worth about $1,000 and up — even in worn condition.
So the other doubled dies that people ask about would be the 1972 — which shows some doubling on the obverse in the date and inscriptions.
The 1983 doubled die — which shows on the reverse (or tails side) some of the doubling here and the inscriptions ‘E Pluribus Unum’. The United States of America
And then finally, the 1984 doubled die — which has on the obverse doubling of Lincoln’s earlobe. Which you probably can’t make out here… Maybe you can see it right in there… Under his primary earlobe you see a second earlobe. And these pieces are worth between $125 and $300 a pop.
Some other rare pennies to be looking for — which you may not find in circulation, but you might find in Estate sales or in older collections… Indian cents — which are worth about $1 to $2 apiece in well worn condition for common dates. This is a 1859 in much better condition — XF from Fine. It’s worth maybe $120 in this case
But… one piece you should be looking for is the 1877 Indian Head cent — which even in well worn condition is worth over $500. And… Not a piece you’ll probably find in circulation, but again be looking for in… Estate sales and old collections. Maybe you have an uncle or an aunt that passed their collection down, and maybe you’ll find one in there.
The Flying Eagle cent — which you see here an example of, a more common example of. The rarest of them all would be the 1856 Proof Flying Eagle cent. The 1856 being a pattern coin that’s worth a few thousand dollars even in worn condition.
Then there are various Large Cents — which you see an example of here. More “recent” (and I say recent in quotes) because in 1853 this coin was made — the last one made in 1857. But there were many, many rare Large Cents — including the first year types made in 1793. Those are worth well over $2,000 to $4,000 a pop, even in well worn condition.
So, this is a quick review of some of the rare pennies that you might hope to find in circulation, or through other means. I want to thank you for your time watching this video. Again, this is Josh for The Fun Times Guide and I wish you happy collecting!
