An old 20th-century penny has been valued by experts at an eye-watering $4.2 million, making it one of the most valuable coins in American history.
The Lincoln Wheat Penny was first in circulation in 1909 as part of the centennial celebration of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth.
The coin marked a notable milestone in American currency, being the first one in the U.S. to feature an actual person instead of a symbolic figure. It was commissioned during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency and designed by sculptor Victor David Brenner and soon became an iconic piece of American coinage.
The unique design features two wheat stalks with the words “One Cent” and “The United States of America”, hence its nickname “Wheat Penny”.
During the shortages in World War II, copper became essential for the use of ammunition production, and was therefore too valuable to use for everyday currency. This meant the U.S. Mint started to produce pennies from zinc-coated steel in 1943, instead of the traditional copper alloy.
As it was made in a busy wartime production environment, a handful of copper planchets (the metal disks that become coins) from 1942 made their way into the presses by mistake, which meant that a small number of 1943 pennies were cast in bronze rather than steel.
It’s these accidental bronze pennies from 1943 that are now some of the most valuable pieces in American numismatics. Experts believe that only 20 to 30 authentic examples exist across all three mints – Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco.
A 1943-D (Denver Mint) Bronze Penny was valued at $4.2 million, while another example sold for the lesser but still incredibly large amount of $1.7 million in 2010.
How to identify a million dollar Wheat Penny
If you believe you may have one of these precious pennies, firstly, check the date and color. If your penny has the date 1943 and appears copper-colored rather than silvery you could be on to a winner.
The next thing to do is try the magnet test. If the penny is made of steel, it will stick to a magnet, while if it’s made of bronze, it won’t.
Another way to determine the value of your penny is by weighing it. Bronze pennies weigh approximately 3.11 grams, while steel pennies weigh around 2.7 grams.
Now look for a mint mark, which is a small letter below the date that indicates where the coin was produced. If the coin was produced in either Denver (D) or San Francisco (S), these are the rarest of the coins, while those made in Philadelphia have no mint mark.
