A 10 Cent Tour

The United States government has formally discussed plans for eliminating the one cent coin since at least the 1980s. However, it appears the denomination is heading for its final curtain call as the year 2025 winds down. Earlier this year, government officials decided the one cent coin, which costs about 3.9 cents per coin to produce, should be eliminated. In May, the United States Treasury placed its final order of planchets to strike the coin. How long this planchet supply is expected to last is uncertain, but short of an 11th-hour change of plans, it looks like the last one-cent coins will soon be rolling off United States Mint presses. And with that would come the end of a numismatic tradition that began in 1793, when the first one cent coins were officially struck by the United States Mint for widespread circulation.

It marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one: the time when the United States one cent denomination is technically obsolete. We may still see “pennies” in circulation for many years to come. After all, more than 100 billion are estimated to still be milling about in channels of commerce. Yet, with the end of the one cent coin drawing near, numismatists call to mind the incredible catalog of coins that the cent has produced over the years. We’re talking about many hundreds of issues and thousands of attributable varieties for countless numismatists to enjoy and collect.

Let’s look at 10 of the most important one cent coins to come along over the last 232 years, beginning with the first.

1793 Chain AMERI Cent

The United States government experimented with a variety of pattern coins in the 1780s and early 1790s before the enactment of the Coinage Act of 1792, which established the United States Mint and mapped out the nation’s official coin system, including the one cent coin. It was indeed the one cent piece that became the first U.S. coin officially struck at scale and distributed into circulation for widespread use in commerce. The first iteration of the denomination was the Chain Cent, struck in February and March 1793. The original Chain Cent, bearing an obverse portrait of Miss Liberty with flowing hair, shows the inscription “UNITED STATES AMERI.”

The stated mintage for the 1793 Chain AMERI Cent is 36,103, but that is inclusive of two types of variations that show a complete version of “AMERICA.” Most importantly, PCGS estimates only 187 specimens of the 1793 Chain AMERI exist in any grade, with just two in uncirculated grades and only one at the MS65-or-better tier. What’s clear is that these coins aren’t just rare – they’re American treasures. And an example grading G4 is easily a $10,000 coin.

1799 Draped Bust Cent

A case could be made that the 1799 Draped Bust Cent was among the first great rarities recognized by American numismatists. In the mid-19th century, when coin collecting was really beginning to take off in the United States, the large cent was a prime area of focus for the nation’s numismatic scholars. And it was realized early on that two dates were seemingly impossible to find: the 1799 and the 1815.

As collectors came to discover, there are no 1815-dated United States one cent coins. As for the 1799 cent, they exist but are extremely rare. An original mintage of just 42,540 has yielded fewer than 1,000 survivors. There were two variants of that date, and both are extremely rare. There is the 1799 and the 1799/8 overdate. PCGS estimates there are 700 examples of the 1799 across all grades and just 200 of the 1799/8 variety. Only one Mint State example exists across these two variants – a 1799 graded PCGS MS61BN with an estimated value approaching $1 million. The circulated examples of either 1799 variant start at around $5,000.

1856 Flying Eagle Cent

Rising costs of production and inflation led to the demise of the large cent in 1857. But the denomination continued on in the form of the small cent. The coin was the culmination of many efforts to make the one-cent coin less costly for the U.S. government to produce and more palatable for the American public to carry in larger quantities, especially as the cost of living increased over the course of the mid-19th century. Chief Engraver of the United States Mint James B. Longacre designed the Flying Eagle Cent, which was struck in limited quantities in 1856.

The 1856 Flying Eagle Cent was produced for exhibition before congresspeople and other civic stakeholders. However, while the 1856 Flying Eagle Cent is categorically a pattern coin and not an official U.S. Mint issue, collectors have adopted the piece as a highly collectible rarity that is frequently collected alongside the 1857- and 1858-dated regular issues. The demand for this coin, with a mintage of an estimated 634 business strikes and about 1,500 proofs, far exceeds available supply. Prices start at around $7,000 for a G4 specimen and steadily increase from there up the grading spectrum.

1877 Indian Cent

The iconic key date of the Indian Cent series is the 1877 Philadelphia strike. It has a reported mintage of 877,000, which is the second lowest in the series – behind only the 1909-S at 309,000. However, as PCGS Price Editor Jaime Hernandez reports, numismatic scholars speculate how accurate the widely published 1877 mintage figure of nearly 900,000 really is. “There is only one reverse die confirmed as striking all existing 1877 Indian cents,” writes Hernandez. “However, if there was only one reverse die employed to strike all (877,000) 1877 Indian Cents, then this lone die should have sustained major planchet flaws when striking such a large mintage. Surprisingly, this is not the case since 1877 Cents show no traces of a damaged die. Therefore, it is strongly believed that the mintage of 877,000 coins struck is actually a highly inflated figure.”

At any rate, the 1877 Indian Cent offers a scant number of survivors. PCGS estimates approximately 5,500 exist, a number insufficient for satisfying strong generational collector demand. Collectors desiring a nice, moderately circulated specimen could obtain a F12 specimen for $1,350, while a handsome MS64RB takes nearly 10 times that amount, commanding $12,000.

1908-S Indian Cent

The significance of the 1908-S Indian Cent lies not necessarily in its mintage – though at 1,115,000 it’s the third lowest of the business-strike arm of its series. This coin is numismatically historic because it was the first United States one cent coin struck at a branch mint, in this case San Francisco. As many numismatists know, it’s the branch-mint cents that lay claim to some of the biggest rarities of the denomination. Take, for example, the 1909-S Indian Cent and the 1909-S VDB and 1914-D Lincoln Cents, not to mention the scarce 1924-D and 1931-S Lincolns. Some may count the 1969-S Doubled Die Obverse Lincoln Cent among the other rarities from the “City by the Bay,” but that coin is rare due to its status as an elusive variety and not because of its S mintmark.

The combination of the 1908-S Indian Cent’s anemic mintage and noteworthy status as the first branch-mint “penny” makes it immensely popular with collectors. Thankfully, the coin is widely available in circulated and uncirculated grades, making it relatively affordable for collectors of diverse budgets. A nice example in F12 garners around $115, while a gorgeous MS64RB takes closer to $1,000.

1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent

There may be no more storied United States coin than the 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent. It has been a “Holy Grail” for generations of Lincoln Cent collectors. It’s even well known beyond the fourth wall of numismatics – many non-collectors refer to the coin as “the 1909 penny” or “the 1909-S penny” and know it to be rare or “special.” Surely, many of these numismatic outsiders don’t know that the presence of designer Victor David Brenner’s “VDB” initials on the reverse really helps make this coin the rarity that it is. Numismatic lore says that the public felt Brenner’s relatively large “VDB” initials symbolized an audacious advertising campaign by the artist, but historians think the biggest “controversy” stemmed from some U.S. Mint and Treasury brass who took issue with the size and placement of the initials.

The Brenner brouhaha led Americans to believe that the VDB cents would be recalled, which never happened. However, the artist’s initials were dropped weeks after the first Lincoln Cents rolled off the presses, and the excitement over the 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent hasn’t abated since. Only 484,000 examples of the 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent were struck. PCGS estimates that some 50,000 exist, which is a respectable number that’s still far too small to quench collector demand. Prices for this key date hover around $1,100 in F12 and reach $8,000 in MS65RD.

1943 Steel Lincoln Cent

The 1943 Steel Lincoln Cent isn’t a rare coin, but it’s one of historical and cultural significance given its connection to World War II. It’s the byproduct of war-era rations, which were necessary for supplying American and Allied troops with the artillery and other provisions they needed to win the war overseas. Copper was a particularly important commodity for producing ammunition. Thus, the U.S. Mint stripped the cent of its bronze composition. This followed suit with a similar move made in late 1942 to replace nickel – important for building tanks – with silver in the nation’s five-cent coin. Several governments around the world also employed emergency coin compositions to assist the war effort.

More than a billion 1943 Steel Lincoln Cents were struck among the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints. But they were only a one-year sojourn into the world of zinc-coated steel, as many in the public were dismayed by the appearance of rusty “pennies” in their pockets and purses. Worse yet? Many 1943 Steel Cents were apparently mistaken for dimes, and vice versa. By 1944, the war still raging on, the U.S. Mint returned to a 95% bronze composition; the copper was reportedly procured from reclaimed shell casings. While the 1943 Steel Lincoln Cent proved unpopular with much of America, it remains a historical wartime footnote and is an object of novel curiosity among both coin collectors and the non-numismatic public alike. The 1943 “steel pennies” from any mint facility are relatively affordable, with nice PCGS-graded specimens in MS65 trading for $30 to $40 apiece.

The 1955 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent

There are few “pennies” as famous as this one… Call it serendipity, but the 1955 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent was born by mere happenstance during the hobby’s boom time in post-war America. Millions were collecting coins, many searching through rolls and pocket change to build collections of Indian and Lincoln Cents, Buffalo Nickels, Mercury Dimes, and Walking Liberty or Franklin Half Dollars directly from circulation; Morgan and Peace Dollars could be purchased from many local banks for just a dollar. Veritably speaking, all eyes were on coins. So, when this drastic “error” began popping up as change in cellophane-wrapped 23-cent packs of cigarettes sold in vending machines accepting only quarters, they sent the American public into a numismatic frenzy.

Philadelphia Mint officials had the chance to prevent the 1955 doubled dies from ever escaping the Mint, where they were initially detected by coiners. A Mint inspector changed out the doubled die that was in operation on one of the coining presses. Of the 40,000 doubled dies that were estimated to have been struck, some 24,000 were already mixed into a larger batch of Lincoln Cents ready for distribution. It was decided to send the batch inadvertently salted with doubled dies on their merry way. After all, the doubled dies were seen by the Mint as “defects” – who would want them anyway? History went on to see the 1955 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent become one of the most famous of all die varieties and certainly the first to have been so widely prized and collected. Today, an AU50 specimen fetches approximately $2,400, while examples in MS63BN trade for closer to $4,000.

2017-P Lincoln Cent

In 2017, the United States Mint celebrated the 225th anniversary of its establishment in 1792 by doing something that had never been done before. Mint officials placed the “P” mintmark on the Lincoln Cent. It was the first time a mintmark representing the Philadelphia Mint had ever appeared on the nation’s one cent coin. However, it would be only a one-year run. The “P” mintmark never made it back onto the coin after 2017. The coin surfaced quietly, released into circulation early in January 2017 with little initial fanfare. News of the coin broke when collector Terry Granstaff landed a 2017-P Lincoln Cent in change from a North Carolina gas station and posted their find on the PCGS Message Board. It wasn’t long before collectors were looking for the Philly-minted coin from sea to shining sea.

The P-mint Lincoln Cent garnered a price premium, with both single coins and rolls going for lofty sums, but eventually the hysteria waned. Today, the 2017-P Lincoln Cent trades for similar price levels as its counterparts of the mid- to late 2010s. A nice example in MS65RD goes for $16 while the more elusive MS68RD – a darling of PCGS Set Registry members – takes closer to $500. Regardless of price, the 2017-P Lincoln Cent represents an important numismatic chapter for the nation’s “penny.”

2019-W Lincoln Cent

The United States Mint produced not just one or two, but rather three different kinds of Lincoln Cents at the West Point Mint in 2019. These three coins, one a business strike and the others taking the form of a regular proof and reverse proof, marked the first time the United States one cent coins ever bore the “W” mintmark of the West Point Mint. However, it was not the first time the cent had been produced by the upstate New York branch mint. The West Point facility, back when it was officially recognized as a bullion depository, produced millions of Lincoln Cents from 1974 through 1986 to assist the Philadelphia Mint with supplemental coinage. These West Point-minted Lincoln Cents of yore do not carry any type of mintmark and are wholly indistinguishable from Philly-struck Lincoln Cents of that same era.

While many collectors have handled dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of 1970s and 1980s Lincoln Cents from the West Point Mint through circulation channels, relatively few have the 2019-W Lincoln Cents. Only 346,117 business strikes were produced, while 600,423 regular proof strikes and 412,508 reverse proofs were minted. The business strikes were included as a bonus in 2019 United States Mint Sets; meanwhile, the proofs and reverse proofs were offered as premiums in the 2019 United States Mint Proof Sets and 2019 United States Mint Silver Proof Sets, respectively. The various iterations of the 2019-W Lincoln Cent in average Mint State and proof grades retail for between $15 to $25 each.