PCGS Market Deep Dive: The Lincoln Memorial Cent

By Victor Bozarth - April 30, 2025

Lincoln Memorial Cents were struck from 1959 through 2008 and offer collectors a smorgasbord of collecting opportunities and numismatic challenges. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView. Click image to enlarge.

Why do so many people love the Lincoln Cent? For coin aficionados, the Lincoln Cent has traditionally offered one of the easiest and least-expensive options for a new or young collector. Most Americans have never known any other one cent coin but the Lincoln “penny” – yes, officially known as “cents,” but virtually everyone calls them “pennies.” The Lincoln Cent debuted in 1909 carrying Victor David Brenner’s now-familiar profile of the nation’s 16th president. The design was originally paired with a visage of two wheat stalks on the reverse, but the “Wheat Ears” design was replaced in 1959 with an elevational view of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.

The Lincoln Memorial design was created by engraver Frank Gasparro, whose famous cent reverse stuck for another 50 years, through 2008. The Lincoln Memorial Cent ended up providing collectors with a range of common dates, true rarities, and many curiosities in between. There is something in the Lincoln Memorial Cent series for just about everyone, with approachable entry prices for collectors on a shoestring budget and exceptionally challenging issues for the advanced collector-investor. There are a myriad of collector options for this stalwart U.S. coin denomination.

The beauty of Lincoln Memorial Cents is that “anyone can play!” Just like many who started pulling “pennies” from change decades ago, today’s collector has the opportunity to find many coins in general circulation needed for a Lincoln Memorial Cent set in general circulation. These will be circulated examples of course, but with a cost of one cent, your downside is zero!

According to a February 10, 2025, CNBC article by Kevin Williams, it is estimated that 114 billion cents are in circulation. Using rough math and a U.S. population of roughly 340 million and 114 billion cents, there are about 335 pennies for every American. Imagine that! That means the average American could have some 335 pennies laying around in jars, drawers, or coin collections. However, recent news that the Lincoln cent may no longer be produced for circulation could put a strain on those supplies – it could even lead to hoarding of available cents still floating around in circulation. Could this enhance the popularity of collecting Lincoln Cents or even drive up values for the coin? Time will tell, but this is a good time to survey the current market conditions for the Lincoln Memorial Cent, which is perennially hot with many collectors anyway.

*The 1969-S Doubled Die Obverse Lincoln Cent is rare in all grades and especially with full “Red” (RD) color as this one shows. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView. Click image to enlarge.*

This 1982 Zinc Small Date Lincoln Cent graded PCGS MS69RD notched more than $15,000 at auction in 2019, serving as an example of the many conditional rarities in the Lincoln Memorial Cent series. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView. Click image to enlarge.

If there is one coin in the Lincoln Memorial Cent series that really takes home the cake with big auction results, it’s the rare 1969-S Obverse Doubled Die. To date PCGS has graded only 33 total coins in all grades from MS60 on up. Examples with the RD color designation are rarities among rarities, and the only recent auction price was hammered on an MS64RD example that fetched $49,200 in May 2022. Among proofs, one of the big winners is the sought-after 1971-S Doubled Die Obverse Proof Lincoln Memorial Cent. An example with CAM designation took $1,260 in February 2020. Conditional rarities are abundant in the Lincoln Memorial series, with a 1982 Zinc Small Date Lincoln Cent graded PCGS MS69RD garnering $15,600 in August 2019.

Lincoln Cents (1909-to Date)