AN antique penny from 1909 was sold online recently for $1,300.
The 113-year-old coin is from the first set of pennies to feature the face of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president.
The 1909 penny was also the first “wheat cent,” named for the design on the coin’s tails, or reverse side.
Known as a 1909-S VDB cent, coins from this series are immensely valuable.
According to the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS), among collectors, the 1909-S VDB penny “is one of the favorites in the entire run of United States coins”.
To understand why this cent coin is so valuable, you need to know about Victor David Brenner – the VDB in the coin’s name.
Who is Victor David Brenner?
Brenner was commissioned to design a penny with Lincoln’s face to commemorate what would have been the stateman’s 100th birthday in 1909.
He went on to craft Lincoln pennies for four decades, but no design garnered as much attention as his 1909 version.
Brenner printed his initials – VDB – on the back of the 1909 Lincoln Wheat cent, drawing the ire of many at the time.
According to PCGS president Ron Guth, journalists took issue with the placement of Brenner’s initials.
Mr Guth wrote that reporters argued it was “far from inconspicuous and that the initials amounted to free, illegal advertising for the designer”.
The initials were removed from future designs, and 72million pennies were minted without VDB.
The value of VDB Lincoln pennies
VDB pennies were only minted in San Francisco, and 484,000 were made before the design was changed, making them extremely rare.
About 50,000 are estimated to still exist today, according to PCGS, including just 6,000 in uncirculated condition.
The value of circulated VDB pennies varies based on grade and condition – USA Coin Book lists the high and low prices at $1,713 and $847.
This recently sold circulated cent was graded by the PCGS at VF45, an above-average rating for a circulated coin.
VF45 VDB pennies can sell for as much as $1,680, and typically cost $1,250 on average, per PCGS.
This coin was initially listed by the seller for 99 cents, but a fierce bidding war drove the price well past the asking price.
Collectors exchanged 40 offers before a winner took the rare penny home for $1,300.
Uncirculated VDB pennies can be worth far more – a mint condition VDB cent was sold for $4,226 on eBay recently.
How to find rare coins
There are many ways you can find rare coins.
The first thing you’ll want to do is check around your home or any places you might store change.
You can also try using a metal detector outdoors, or stopping by your local bank and asking for a roll of coins.
You can easily exchange bills for coins, getting plenty of change to sort through for standouts at no cost.
To check if your coins are worth anything on eBay, search the full name, select the “sold” listing and then toggle the search to “highest value”.
This way, you’ll get a sense of what collectors are willing to pay for your coins.
You can either choose to sell the coin on eBay or through a specialist site such as Coinappraiser or USA Coin Book.
And be aware of potential fakes when buying online.
To avoid this, it’s worth checking the seller’s history and whether or not the coin was certified in the listing.
For instance, not only was this coin professionally certified, the seller had a 99.9% positive feedback rating on 1,256 reviews.
