11/6/2022 0 Comments Last year for copper pennies#Last year for copper pennies plus#This 1943 copper wheat penny sold for $220 plus the buyer’s premium in January 2020 at Rare Treasures in Harrisburg, Pa. Both versions are sought after by collectors. A second strike was issued with a more brilliant finish. Most proofs can be identified by their mirror-like background.)ġ936 brought the issuance of one of the first proof wheat pennies, except it had a satin finish that gave it an uncirculated appearance. The extra strike gives the coins a much shinier, cleaner-looking finish and makes the fine details of the design pop. For this reason, 1931 S specimens are more like proof coins – the highest quality grade of coin issued by the mint. ( Proof coins are struck twice instead of just once like regular coins. It had a rather low mintage, and most of the coins were held in US Mint vaults due to low consumer interest. The 1931 S wheat penny was the only one issued that year due to the impact of the Great Depression. Naturally, they turn the heads of collectors, but care must be taken – would-be owners will want to confirm the mint mark was not deliberately removed. Some 1922 specimens feature a faint “D” mint mark or don’t have a mint mark at all. Image courtesy of Gold Standard Auctions and LiveAuctioneersĪnother favorite from the Denver Mint dates to 1922, a year when the city’s mint was the sole manufacturer of the wheat penny, yielding 500,000 for the nation’s needs. This 1922 wheat penny lacking its ‘D’ mint mark realized $1,000 plus the buyer’s premium in July 2021 at Gold Standard Auctions in Dallas. Production flubs such as these generally make a coin more valuable. In this case, the word “Trust” and the date are marred. Some examples of the 1917 wheat penny are affected by what is known as a “double-die strike” – an occurrence in which two impressions of the die overlap enough to cause a noticeable error. In that year, a slightly different die was used for the Lincoln portrait, which sharpened some of the facial features such as his cheek and part of his coat. Wheat penny completists make a point of obtaining a 1916 example of the coin. D pennies from 1914 are among the lowest-circulated wheat pennies, making them a favorite among collectors and auctioneers, and, unfortunately, counterfeiters. In 1911, the Denver Mint began striking the wheat penny with the mint mark “D,” joining mints in San Francisco (S) and Philadelphia (which did not use a mint mark) in producing the coin. The relative scarcity of the San Francisco Mint 1909 wheat penny makes it one of the most valuable pennies minted that year, and a 1909 S that lacks the “VDB” is a rare prize, indeed. The letters would not return until 1918, and once reinstated, they remained part of the coin design until its discontinuation. The initials stirred controversy because of their prominent appearance on the coin, and ultimately mint officials decided to remove them. The San Francisco Mint, however, issued only about 484,000 wheat pennies in that inaugural year, identifiable by the “S” mint mark and “VDB” (representing sculptor Victor David Brenner’s initials) on the reverse. The Philadelphia Mint issued around 22 million wheat pennies in 1909, making them the most common variety of this mintage. Its journey shows just how determined collectors are in their quest to locate coins that display quirks, oddities or deviations from the norm. Brenner’s artistic flourish almost ensured that the coin would be dubbed the “wheat penny.”ĭuring its five-decade reign, changes in the production of the wheat penny – some major and some minor, some intended and some not – sparked interest that has yet to abate. It was a simple design featuring the words One Cent United States of America flanked by a pair of curving wheat stalks. Prior to 1909, allegorical figures such as Lady Liberty or a composite image of a Native American wearing a headdress were the most common elements in American coin design. The wheat penny, boasting the image of Lincoln, represented the first time a real person appeared on an American coin.īut it was the artwork on the reverse side of the penny that prompted its enduring nickname. The debut of Brenner’s penny made history in and of itself. #Last year for copper pennies license#Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions and available on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license President Theodore Roosevelt was impressed by sculptor Victor David Brenner’s plaque of Abraham Lincoln and commissioned him to redesign the penny in 1908 based on the image seen on the plaque.
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