1919 Wheat Penny Value
The wheat penny, whose mintage history spans nearly 50 years, is today one of the most commonly collected coins and is very popular with beginning collectors.
1909, the centennial anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, marked the first year of mintage for the wheat penny, also known as the Lincoln cent. Preceded by the Indian Head penny, the Lincoln cent was conceived by President Theodore Roosevelt as a way of commemorating the 16th president, one of his personal idols.
Detailed information about the coin 1 Cent. Schmidt (editor); 2019. Standard Catalog of World Coins, 2001-Date (14 th edition). Krause Publications, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA. 3.1 Wheat penny 1957 value chart; 4 #1 1943 Bronze Wheat Penny – $60,000 – $1,750,000; 5 #2 1944 Steel Wheat Penny – $7,500 – $200,000. 5.1 Thing to know about valuable 1944 Wheat Pennies; 6 #3 1909-S VDB Wheat Penny – $1,500 – $100,000; 7 Most valuable Wheat Pennies – Other Key Years; 8 The Wheat Penny – a great option to start. USA Coin Book Estimated Value of 1919 Lincoln Wheat Penny is Worth $0.32 in Average Condition and can be Worth $15 to $30 or more in Uncirculated (MS+) Mint Condition. 1909 to 1958 Wheat Cent Bag (5000) Pennies from million penny hoard UN Searched Should be a very Nice Mix of Dates Entire Bag of (5,000) Coins Un-Searched / over 30 pounds of history Entire bag of 5,000 Unsearched Lincoln Wheat Pennies from 1910 to 1919. These coins are in average circulated condition.
Not only was this the first time that Lincoln appeared on currency; it was the first time a real historical figure appeared on a U.S. coin (outside of the commemorative Columbian half dollar, which featured Christopher Columbus). Most previous coins featured either an animal or the symbolic Lady Liberty.
Designed by Lithuanian medalist Victor David Brenner, the obverse of the wheat penny features a profile bust portrait of Abraham Lincoln with the word “Liberty” to his left and the motto “In God We Trust” along the upper rim. To Lincoln’s right is the mintage date, and just below the date is the mint mark, if one is present.
On the reverse, we have the denomination “ONE CENT” boldly centered above the legend “United States of America.” On both sides of these words is a stalk of wheat, and along the top of the coin is the motto “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
Mintage of wheat pennies continued until 1958, when President Eisenhower commissioned a new design for the reverse featuring the Lincoln Memorial.
History of the 1919 Wheat Penny
1919 was a prolific year for the wheat penny. 392,021,000 pennies were minted in Philadelphia alone. Including the numbers minted in Denver and San Francisco, over half a billion wheat pennies were produced in 1919.
The design of the 1919 wheat penny is the same as other Wheat Pennies with one exception: the initials of the coin’s designer Victor David Brenner are inscribed on the obverse, tucked under the point where Lincoln’s shoulder ends near the rim.
In the first year of the wheat penny, the initials had been at the bottom of the reverse, but their prominence caused a controversy. They were removed at the end of the year but restored in 1918, this time in the new, more subtle shoulder location. The 1919 wheat penny is the second mintage year to feature this location.
Unfortunately, the inscribed initials are very often worn down in surviving coins and are very difficult to see on most 1919 pennies, especially those of lower grades.
Compositionally, the 1919 wheat penny is 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, a composition common to all wheat pennies, save those produced during America’s involvement in World War II, an era that saw various experimentations in material in efforts to conserve copper.
The 1919 wheat penny has a diameter of 19mm and a weight of 3.11 grams.
Valuing the 1919 Wheat Penny
Due to the commonality of the wheat penny and the fact that the 1919 mintage is rather ordinary as far as design and composition is concerned, the lower grades of this coin are not often valued very highly.
However, this is not to say that they are worthless: the wheat penny is a staple of coin collections and has a stable market, and even the lower grades of the 1919 wheat penny are worth more to collectors than their face value. Moreover, higher grades can be worth a premium.
Because of the difference in minting numbers in 1919 among Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco, the value you can get for your 1919 wheat penny very much depends on its mint mark.
Those minted in Philadelphia have no mint mark. They were by far the most common in 1919, meaning that their value is the lowest: Good, Very Good , and Fine grades are all valued at less than $0.50. This value increases to $1.02 at Very Fine, $3.23 at Extremely Fine, and $5.15 at About Uncirculated. The value of Uncirculated coins ranges from $14 to $28.
Those minted in Denver are much more valuable and feature a “D” below the date on the obverse. Good and Very Good grades of this coin are worth $0.50 and $0.70 respectively. Fine to Extremely Fine grades are worth from $1-10. Uncirculated coin value ranges from $67-$109.
The San Francisco mintages are also higher in value than those made in Philadelphia, and they are marked by an “S” below the year on the obverse. Good and Very Good grades are worth $0.20 and $0.40 respectively. Fine, Very Fine, and Extremely Fine grades range from $1-6. This increases to $18 in About Uncirculated and from $50 to $172 in Uncirculated grades.
The definition of Lincoln’s hair and the texture of the wheat stalks are important factors in determining the grade and condition of the 1919 wheat penny. The more legible these elements are, the more your coin is worth.
Looking for Lincoln Wheat penny values can be tricky because many of the price guides that are available online offer confusing information about what a coin might fetch based on its physical condition.
All too often, online pricing info is tailored to what a “perfect” coin might be worth. That's definitely exciting if you’ve got, say, a 1941 Lincoln cent that “could be” worth $1,000 or $5,000 in pristine condition. But what is a well-worn example from pocket change worth in reality? That’s quite a different story. . .
First, The Bad News. . .
If you’ve come to this page hoping that Lincoln Wheat cent you’ve pulled out of your pocket change is going to pay off your car or help put your kids through college, you might want to be sitting down. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Lincoln Wheat pennies found in circulation, inherited folder collections, or in jars of old coins are worth less than 10 cents apiece.
In fact, with the exceptions of major errors and varieties, no Lincoln wheat penny struck after 1933 is worth more than 10 cents in worn condition, and most are worth only 2 or 3 cents. Well-worn 1943 steel pennies often trade for 5 to 10 cents apiece in well-worn condition. But chances are any of the Lincoln Wheat cents you’ve found in pocket change are going to be worth only a small amount over face value.
Now, The Good News!
While most worn, common-date Lincoln Wheat pennies aren’t worth more than 10 cents, there are many Lincoln Wheat cents that are worth much more, and by quite a bit. There are four major regular-issue key dates in the series and several valuable semi-key dates, varieties, and errors, too.
1919 Wheat Penny Value
Key Date Wheat Pennies
The major Lincoln Wheat cent key dates include:
- 1909-S
- 1909-S VDB
- 1914-D
- 1931-S
Important semi-key dates are:
- 1909 VDB
- 1910-S
- 1911-S
- 1912-S
- 1913-S
- 1914-S
- 1915-S
- 1922-D
- 1924-D
- 1926-S
Then there are the “better dates” (or “better issues”)—those that may not necessarily rise to the status of being a bona fide semi-key date but are nevertheless more valuable than the common dates. These include:
- 1909
- 1911-D
- 1912
- 1912-D
- 1913-D
- 1915-D
- 1916-D
- 1916-S
- 1920-D
- 1921-S
- 1923-S
- 1925-D
- 1925-S
- 1926-D
- 1927-D
- 1927-S
- 1928-S
- 1931-D
- 1932
- 1932-D
- 1933
- 1933-D
Finally, there are the varieties and errors, which constitute some of the most valuable Lincoln Wheat pennies in the series. These are not necessarily required for completing a set of Lincoln Wheat cents, yet many collectors pursue them anyway. Here’s a glance at the most widely collected, most popular errors and varieties and what they’re worth:
- 1909-S S Over Horizontal S
- 1917 Doubled Die
- 1922 No D
- 1922 Weak D
- 1943 Bronze
- 1943-D Doubled Mintmark
- 1944 Steel
- 1955 Doubled Die
Steel Wheat cent
What Are These Wheat Pennies Worth?
The chart below provides an approximate estimate on retail values for the Lincoln cents individually listed above. It also provides values for the Wheat penny date ranges not specifically mentioned above. Value breakdowns are for coins in average circulated (VG8 to VF20) condition and average uncirculated condition (MS62-MS64).
*Values above are for problem-free coins with no signs of damage, including holes, major gouges, scratches, or cleanings.
Collecting Lincoln Wheat Cents
The Lincoln penny is not just one of the most widely collected issues among all United States coinage, but it’s also one of the most familiar coins anywhere in the world. While the Lincoln Wheat cent is a long-obsolete coin that has been gradually disappearing from circulation over the past decades, it remains one of the first coin collectors begin searching for. Yet, even many of the most advanced collectors stick to collecting Lincoln cents throughout their lives.
1919 Wheat Penny Value Worth
A great many numismatists focus on studying and collecting Lincoln Wheat cents exclusively, in part because the series is so complex and lends to so many incredible finds. New discoveries are still being made among the Lincoln Wheat penny, including repunched mintmarks and other minor and major die varieties of varying significance.
Many collectors will build sets of Lincoln Wheat pennies using cardboard folders, deluxe albums, or museum-quality Lucite holders. Then there are the collectors who seek high-grade examples encapsulated by third-party coin grading firms and use these coins to build registry sets. But there is no right or wrong way to collect Lincoln pennies!
As Lincoln Wheat penny values range all over the price spectrum, the series offers something for just about everybody regardless of their income or collecting level. And, because of this, the Lincoln cent reigns to this day as one of the most versatile, beloved coin series and rightly claims a strong following of millions of collectors in the United States and around the globe.
Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez is a journalist, editor, and blogger who has won multiple awards from the Numismatic Literary Guild. He has also authored numerous books, including works profiling the history of the United States Mint and United States coinage.
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