YOU’VE likely come across plenty of pennies in your life – but rare ones from the 1900s and before then are selling for a ton of cash online.
Some of these rare pennies feature 16th President Abraham Lincoln.
That may seem like nothing unusual – but some of these have unique features about them that are attracting buyers.
While others are drawing attention on basis of how old and rare they are.
This is making them worth significantly more than their original value of one cent.
But of course, you’ll want to keep in mind that the value of the coin could depend on the grade and condition.
As always, the value of any coin is only worth how much someone else is willing to pay for it.
Below we unveil the most valuable circulated pennies worth up to $11,128, based on recently completed eBay listings.
1909 S VDB Lincoln Wheat Penny – $1,725
This is one of the most popular and controversial coins among collectors.
The penny features the letters VDB on the bottom of the back of the coin, which are the initials of designer Victor David Brenner.
Up until the late 1950s, Mr Brenner designed all the years of the coins featuring Lincoln.
However, newspaper reporters had an issue with the placement of the initials, which were located on the bottom of the reverse side of the coin, according to Professional Coin Grading Service president Ron Gruth.
“Instead of placing the initials elsewhere in new dies, mint employees simply removed them entirely from the coin, and a new round of cents were produced without the VDB.”
And it’s so valuable not only because of the controversy surrounding it but its low mintage too – just 484,000 of these coins have been minted.
That’s compared with more than 72million of the other version of the 1909 coin.
Fifteen bidders fought it out to get themselves this coin on eBay, with the winner shelling out $1,725.
1877 Copper Indian Head cent – $2,305
This is one of the most desirable coins in the Indian Head cent series as it has the second lowest mintage making it extremely rare.
Jaime Hernandez wrote on PCGS that one of the things making this coin so rare is the low amount of coins that were collected this year versus in 1909.
This coin sold on eBay on August 3, racking up 46 bids that quickly jumped in price.
The most expensive coin on the list is also an Indian Head cent.
1922 Lincoln No D Penny – $2,750
Rather than a special addition, this penny is valuable for something it lacks.
Mr Hernandez wrote of this coin that it’s the only Lincoln cent in the entire series which lacks its intended mint mark.
The mint mark is a smaller letter on the face of the coin underneath the year that signifies where it was minted.
This coin should’ve had a “D” for its Denver mintage, but the space on this coin is blank.
“In 1922, the Denver Mint was the only Mint which produced cents for that year. Consequently, all 1922 cents should bare the D mint mark,” wrote Mr Hernandez.
“However, since the Denver Mint was under extreme pressure to produce cents for that year, there was a lot of sloppiness in the production process.”
Although there were many of these coins made, they’re hard to come by since they’re so sought after and usually sell very quickly.
A recent auction on eBay only lasted for three bids before the buyer offered $2,705, knocking out other bidders.
1877 Indian cent – $3,300
Another Indian cent sold for more than $3,000 online.
Just as with the flying eagle cent, this coin was designed by Mr Longacre.
Minted in Philadelphia, the coin features an Indian head with the United States of America on the sides, with the year 1877 below.
The 1877 version has been said to be the rarest Indian head penny there is.
According to CoinTrackers, just 850,000 of these rare pennies were minted.
This Indian cent had a total of six bids at the close of the auction on eBay.
1799 Draped Bust cent – $6,653
A coin from the late 1700s has also sold for more than $6,000.
It’s important to note that there are two varieties of this coin: one has the normal date (Sheldon-189) and the other has an overdate (1799/8).
The coin sold in the listing is the Sheldon-189 version.
“This is a genuine coin that was dug by a metal detectorist,” according to the listing.
But regardless, if you have one of these coins – it’s fair to expect them to be quite valuable – given the year it was minted.
Just over 42,000 of the normal date versions of the coin were minted in 1799, according to USA Coin Book.
1856 Flying Eagle cent – $11,128
Moving away from the Lincoln coins, a flying eagle cent from the 1850s sold for more than $11,000 recently.
Designed by portraitist James Barton Longacre in 1856, the circulated coin features an eagle on one side, with “one cent” shown on the other.
“The 1856 Flying Eagle cents were initially struck as presentation pieces and given to members of congress and other dignitaries,” according to the eBay listing.
Also, the listing claims that it was the first American coin to use nickel to inspire a coin-collecting hobby in the late 1800s.
This Philadelphia-minted coin collected 66 bids online.
