Unlock Hidden Treasure: Discover the Rare Penny Features That Could Make You Thousands

Share and Follow

In the face of a national penny shortage, businesses are getting creative by offering snacks, beverages, and gift cards in exchange for these elusive coins. Some even warn customers about potential discrepancies in their change. This has many people eyeing their penny jars, wondering if they’re sitting on a small fortune.

However, before you start dreaming of riches, it’s important to note that most pennies aren’t worth more than those enticing offers. Their value largely hinges on specific details like the mint year, the presence of wheat sheaves, and, if you’re exceptionally fortunate, a set of three initials.

In recent times, certain pennies have fetched impressive sums at auction, with some even reaching into the hundreds of thousands or more. On rare occasions, a penny has been known to sell for over $1 million.

In 2022, for instance, a collection of ten pennies, each over a hundred years old, garnered a total of $1.1 million at auction. As reported by Nexstar’s KTLA, these particular coins were originally crafted with collectors in mind.

Produced between 1909 and 1915, the coins are considered wheat pennies, which are considered the most commonly collected U.S. coins today.

Between 1909 and 1958, pennies featured two sheaves of wheat on their reverse. During those nearly 50 years, small changes were made to the pennies. Early on, the initials of sculptor-engraver Victor David Brenner appeared on the reverse of the penny.

Boston, MA – February 12: A selection of wheat-back pennies at Stack’s Bowers Galleries. (Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

A penny bearing “V.D.B.” beneath its wheat sheaves was among those that sold in 2022; that coin alone went for $365,000. In January, a highly graded wheat penny from the same series sold for $99,000 at auction.

Another, minted in Denver in 1943, sold for $840,000 in 2021, according to a listing by Heritage Auctions. Pennies of that series were made of bronze rather than the zinc-coated steel the U.S. was using at the time, amidst the war efforts. Another wheat penny from 1944 — made entirely of steel, giving it a silver appearance instead of copper or bronze — sold at auction for $168,000 in January.

Dave Sorrick, coin expert and collector at In God We Trust, LLC, previously told Nexstar’s KSNF/KODE that a wheat penny from 1909 could be “worth anywhere from $700 to $1,500 depending on the coin’s grade.” An uncirculated wheat penny from 1909 that has been graded could be worth $2,000 to $3,000.

While online guides can give you insight into how valuable your wheat penny — or your dimes, or your state quarter collection, or your $1 bill, or your $2 bill — is or isn’t, it is generally recommended that you speak with an expert before listing your coin on eBay.

As for your wheatless, copper-plated zinc pennies that were produced in the last two decades, you may not find much of a collectors’ market for them.

Even when Canada ditched its penny and encouraged residents to turn theirs in, Canadians were only receiving face value for the coins: if you turned in 285 pennies, you received $2.85.

If you were hoping to leverage your pennies into a better deal, you may want to try a retailer that’s offering freebies in exchange for one-cent coins instead.