You’ve probably heard about the rare Lincoln wheat cents that many coin collectors call key dates.
The most popular Lincoln penny key dates are:
- 1909-S VDB
- 1909-S
- 1914-D
- 1922 plain
- 1931-S
Well, hold on…
It looks like there may be another Lincoln wheat cent that could someday be considered among the rare U.S. coins referred to as key dates:
It’s the 1911-S penny!
Why may the 1911-S cent someday be classified as a key date, you ask?
Consider this:
- Only a little more than 4 million 1911-S Lincoln cents were made.
- The retail price for a 1911-S in Good has increased over the years to almost $50.
- Every coin collector needs a 1911-S Lincoln penny to complete a Lincoln cent collection.
While this in no way suggests values for a 1911-S penny are guaranteed to go up soon, what this does mean is that the list of the Lincoln cents coin collectors consider as ‘key dates’ may eventually expand to include the 1911-S.
Realistically, there is not a lot of excitement surrounding the 1911-S. It is simply a good value as it’s a lower mintage Lincoln cent that came very close to being one of the key Lincoln cents. Keep an eye on it, though, because it has the potential to enter a very strong period. Source
I’m the Coin Editor here at TheFunTimesGuide. My love for coins began when I was 11 years old. I primarily collect and study U.S. coins produced during the 20th century.
I’m a member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) and the Numismatic Literary Guild (NLG) and have won multiple awards from the NLG for my work as a coin journalist. I’m also the editor at the Florida United Numismatists Club (FUN Topics magazine), and author of Images of America: The United States Mint in Philadelphia (a book that explores the colorful history of the Philadelphia Mint). I’ve contributed hundreds of articles for various coin publications including COINage, The Numismatist, Numismatic News, Coin Dealer Newsletter, Coin Values, and CoinWeek.
I’ve authored nearly 1,000 articles here at The Fun Times Guide to Coins (many of them with over 50K shares), and I welcome your coin questions in the comments below!
