TOP 16 ULTRA RARE PENNY COINS WORTH A LOT OF MONEY!

The value of a penny can skyrocket into the millions due to rare minting errors, low mintage numbers, or their pristine condition. Based on notable sales and extreme rarity, here are 16 ultra-rare penny coins valued by numismatists:

Coin	Key Feature	Record Value / High-End Estimate
1943-D Lincoln Bronze Wheat Penny	Struck in bronze (copper) instead of steel by mistake, with a Denver mint mark.	Up to $1.7 Million
1958 Doubled Die Obverse (DDO) Cent	Features severe doubling on the lettering, with only a few examples known to exist.	$1,360,000
1943 Lincoln Bronze Wheat Penny (No Mint Mark)	Mistakenly struck on a bronze (copper-alloy) planchet instead of the zinc-coated steel used during WWII.	Up to $1 Million
1793 Strawberry Leaf Cent	An extremely rare large cent variety.	$862,500
1944-S Lincoln Steel Wheat Penny	Accidentally struck on a steel planchet leftover from 1943, with a San Francisco mint mark.	Over $700,000 in uncirculated condition
1944-D Lincoln Steel Wheat Penny	An error coin struck on a steel planchet at the Denver Mint.	$115,000
1969-S Doubled Die Obverse Lincoln Cent	Features strong doubling on the date and lettering, with very few authentic examples.	$126,500
1999 Wide AM Lincoln Memorial Cent	A rare mint error where the ‘A’ and ‘M’ in AMERICA are separated (Wide AM) on a coin that should have the ‘Close AM’ variety.	$138,000
1909-S VDB Lincoln Penny	The first year of the Lincoln Cent, featuring the designer’s initials “V.D.B.” on the reverse, with an extremely low mintage from the San Francisco Mint.	$168,000
1914-D Lincoln Wheat Penny	A “key date” Lincoln Cent with one of the lowest mintages from that era.	$158,625
1877 Indian Head Penny	The most desirable coin in the Indian Head series due to its low mintage.	$149,500
1955 Doubled Die Obverse (DDO) Lincoln Cent	Exhibits bold doubling on the date and the word “LIBERTY”.	$114,000
1917 Doubled Die Obverse Wheat Penny	A variety showing doubling on the obverse design.	$120,000
1922 “Plain” Lincoln Wheat Penny	A rare error where the ‘D’ mint mark (for Denver) was obliterated due to heavy die polishing.	$92,000
1864 Indian Head Penny with “L” on Ribbon	A popular rarity where the designer’s initial “L” was added to the ribbon behind the Indian’s neck mid-year.	$92,000
1856 Flying Eagle Cent	The first small-sized one-cent coin, with only about 1,000 struck as an unauthorized pattern.	Up to $25,000

Note on Rarity: Many of these high-value coins are due to minting errors. For example, the 1943 bronze pennies were accidentally struck on leftover bronze planchets when the U.S. Mint was using zinc-coated steel to conserve copper for the war effort. Similarly, the 1944 steel pennies were accidentally struck on leftover steel planchets from 1943. Doubled Die errors, like on the 1955 and 1958 cents, occurred when the die was incorrectly struck twice, causing the date and lettering to appear doubled.