Wheat Penny Values

The Lincoln Wheat Penny was produced from 1909 to 1958 and is the most collected American coin series. Over 27 billion were minted across three facilities. Most are worth between 3 and 15 cents. A handful are worth hundreds or thousands. Knowing your date, mint mark, and condition tells you which category yours fall into.

If your wheat penny is from the 1940s or 1950s and circulated, it's worth between 3 and 15 cents. That's not nothing. It's 3 to 15 times face value. But it's not retirement money either.

Common dates include all Philadelphia (no mint mark) and Denver (D) issues from 1934 to 1958, excluding the 1943 steel cents and the 1955 doubled die. San Francisco (S) mint marks from this era are slightly scarcer and may bring a small premium.

If you have a jar of wheat pennies, the quickest way to evaluate them is to pull out anything dated before 1934, anything with an S mint mark, and anything that looks unusual (steel color, visible doubling, or errors). Everything else is worth sorting into rolls or selling in bulk.

Full dedicated guide to the 1943 steel penny →

In 1943, the US Mint switched from copper to zinc-coated steel to conserve copper for the war. These steel pennies are silver-colored and stick to a magnet. Most are worth $0.10 to $0.50 in circulated condition. Uncirculated examples bring $2 to $10.

The real money is in the 1943 copper penny, a transitional error. A few pennies were accidentally struck on leftover copper planchets. Authenticated examples have sold for over $100,000. If your 1943 penny does NOT stick to a magnet, get it authenticated immediately.

In 1909, the new Lincoln cent debuted with designer Victor David Brenner's initials "VDB" on the reverse. Public backlash led to the initials being removed after a short run. This created two varieties:

1909 VDB (Philadelphia): 27.9 million minted. Worth $8 to $15 circulated, $15 to $30 uncirculated. Common enough to be affordable but still a collector favorite as the first-year design.

1909-S VDB (San Francisco): Only 484,000 minted. Worth $800 to $2,000 circulated, $1,500 to $3,000+ uncirculated. This is the single most famous wheat penny and the coin that launched countless collections.

If you have a handful of common-date wheat pennies, they're worth a few cents each. Not worth a special trip. But if you have rolls, bags, or collections with a mix of dates, a professional evaluation can uncover coins worth significantly more than you'd expect.

We buy wheat pennies in every condition and quantity. Bring in your jar, your rolls, or your grandfather's collection. We'll sort through them, identify anything valuable, and give you a fair offer on the spot.