The 12 Most Expensive Pennies In U.S. History

hey how's it going everybody Christian from treasure town here and today we're going to be discussing the 12 most expensive pennies ever in United States history we're going to be taking a look at small-sized US pennies and the way that I made this list is I looked at the past auction prices and looked at the 12th highest auction prices for an individual specimen and variety so with that being said let's get into the video but I'm really excited I learned a lot when I was making this video and I'll be able to provide some background information as well number 12 is the 1969 s DVO double die averse Lincoln penny with a price of a hundred and twenty six thousand five hundred dollars and a grade of ms-64 by PCGS and this is the only Lincoln Memorial sent in this top 12 but you can see the doubling on this coin pretty much with your eyes if you've got one it has doubling clearly in the Liberty and the In God We Trust and this was originally discovered the government said that they were counterfeit and ended up destroying I think it was five of them they were eventually recognized as being very valuable so it was unfortunate for those five but you know it's pretty much one of the top double dies for this entire denomination number 11 is the 1926 s Lincoln penny and it's kind of surprising that I made this list but it's a one-hundred and forty nine thousand five hundred dollar coin in the MS 65 grade and the reason for it is that there's a very small mintage on this coin one of the top ten lowest mintage excuse me Lincoln cents and in the 30s most of the people were getting their coins from circulation to put in their collection so there are a fair amount of these in the normal circulated grades but they're very few saved in high uncirculated states like it em'ly 65 so that's where the value comes from and coming in at number 10 I made it 10 instead of 11 because it was an older coin but is the 1877 Indian Head Penny this is the key date for the Indian Head cent series along with 1909 s its mintage is slightly higher than the 1909 but that was the last in the Indian Head series so a lot more people kept very nice condition specimens of the 1909 whereas the 1877 that treatment was not applied so this M s 66 PCGS coin was sold for one hundred and forty nine thousand five hundred dollars about ten or eleven years ago and you want to look out for any 1877 but especially one in this price that's gonna command a very high price tag number nine we get a small price increase in the nineteen fourteen D Lincoln penny this coin realized a hundred and fifty two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars in an auction recently and it was an MS sixty six plus coin so very nice grade and I think the reason was it was another one that very few people actually had in this nice of a condition so that's the case with a lot of these it's the an individually rare coin but not a date that too many people saved in great condition and then apparently according to one site that coin was put in a lot of penny boards in the 30s and 40s for coin collecting and that really damaged a lot of the coins so you know that's how this coin came to be so valuable at number eight we have one of the rarer Indian Head cents it is the 1864 L Indian Head Penny and is one hundred and sixty one thousand dollars was its sale as a proof sixty five red and brown and graded coin there's a little L on the ribbon that can be seen if you look really closely but the Civil War was going on and very few people were getting these coins and saving them in the uncirculated condition and it's a proof coin which adds to its value this one is super cooled number seven we have the 1943 bronze Lincoln Cent with a price tag of one hundred and sixty four thousand five hundred dollars which was realized six years ago in a stacks Bowers galleries auction and it was an MS 63 coin but there's a pretty cool story behind this and a lot of the coming ones our errors as opposed to just really well-preserved coins 1943 was supposed to be a zinc and steel-plated sent but there were a couple of mishaps in this process it was the world war so they were conserving the metals to use in the war so they they switched to that zinc and steel combo but a few planets were struck in 1943 it's a widely counterfeited date as they're so valuable and you'll see that in the coming goings as well but that's how this coin got so much value being an error coin struck as bronze in 1943 and being in pretty good condition number six we go back to the very first coin that could have been considered for this as its small cents and that's the 1856 falling Eagle cent there were an extremely limited number of these I actually got to see one in our coin shop one came through our doors I believe it was a proof though and this specific coin however was a one hundred seventy two thousand five hundred dollar coin ms sixty-six which is stunning but the flying eagle which is a pretty valuable coin to begin with was mainly made in 1857 and 1858 about eight hundred coins I think were presented to lawmakers in 1856 this could be wrong but I think that there were some cornet large head cents that were being made then so this was just kind of a trial year but as you can imagine a hundred and fifty years later that's gonna make for a pretty valuable coin especially one preserved at the MS 66 level and coming in at number five we have a coin that was in the news pretty recently the 1943 copper Lincoln penny so it's not bronze this one's copper but the price is two hundred and four thousand dollars it was sold at auction about a month ago or maybe less than that and this one was in a grade of a you fifty three about uncirculated 53 which may be the lowest grade on this list but this was found in lunch change in the 1940s 1947 I believe and the person who owned the coin did not really realize that they had a real coin they always thought that it was real but everybody the and took it - said it was fake so upon his passing it was auctioned off and realized this pretty great amount of money so it serves as a reminder and again you'll be reminded of that more in the coming poins to check your change carefully and pay extra attention to those 1943 wheat pennies coming in at number four is a really astonishing ko in 1909 VDB Lincoln penny with a price of two hundred and fifty eight thousand five hundred dollars and a grade of proof sixty-seven but this was the first coin in the Lincoln obverse series so that continues to this day and the engraver I think it's Victor David Brenner wanted to put his initials on the bottom of the coin that was later taken out but the coins that result are slightly more rare you probably think of the 1909 s VDB as being one of the most valuable coins out there but these ones are proof minted and I think that there were a little less than 1,200 of these made so it's a lot more rare than the 1909 SVD B and these proof coins not all of them survived very few in fact and none in this type of condition so when this came to auction it's not really too big of a surprise especially given it's beautiful colors that it realized such a big price and another 1943 error this one being at the San Francisco mint 1943 s bronze Lincoln penny sold for two hundred and eighty two thousand dollars early in February 2016 and this one was an au 58 so not quite as but bad condition as AE 53 which was the other one which is still pretty good about uncirculated grade but this one's definitely you know not a super shiny one like the proof 67 that we just observed but it did get more money that's because it's a very rare coin and I think that there were fewer of these made at the branch moments like the Essman they in one compared to you know a regular 1943 but the next one will be a slightly different very on this wartime issues with the Lincoln pennies number two is the 1944 s steel Lincoln penny and if you are doing a double-take because he said hey I thought the steel pennies were 1943 you're right and that's precisely why this coin is so valuable like some of the errors where there were old bronze or copper planets being used in 1943 1944 had a very limited number of skill sets being struck in that year with the plant just kind of escaping where they should have been so this 370 $3,750 ms sixty-six coin is super well preserved and an error that is incredible that's why I also look for any 44s when I see zinc pennies you know it's a very rare that you'll find one but that would be a fine double of lifetime if I could and I enjoy searching them anyways and additionally one of the factors that probably makes this a super valuable coin is the absence of any damage or super noticeable damage it's a sharp strike convening that it's features are pretty well outlined unlike the earlier bronze sent I believe and with that let's go to the number one coin and this one is gonna be many times the value of the one that we just covered and that is going to be the 1943 d bronze Lincoln penny so you've been talking so much about this error but let's break down what makes this coin so much more valuable than the other ones or at least why commanded such a high auction price and a that is because the Denver Mint is only has one known so whereas others have a couple of specimens that Denver Mint this is literally the only one I'm not sure exactly what the process was but it was discovered in 1979 and was eventually sold by legend numismatics the fitting name and it also has that incredible ms-64 grade which is significantly higher than the a you pieces and makes it a lot more attractive to collectors that's probably why it commanded that 1.7 million so I've already talked about why it's rare and that it's a copper penny being minted but it's also the only one from the Denver Mint which is why has that little D below the date as opposed to the San Francisco the 1943 s or the gnomon mark which was made in Philadelphia so I hope you enjoyed watching I'm going to be coming out with more videos on the different types of denominations and I learned a lot when I made this especially the history behind the coins hope you did too thanks for watching the video I encourage you to like comment and subscribe if you haven't done so already and seen contacted me at treasure town whitey on Instagram or on my website treasure town y-t-dot-com if you're interested in sending me a package for me to open up on camera my address is treasure town p.o box 201 crash connecticut oh six eight three six and i look forward to seeing you on some of my other videos

Channel: Treasure Town

Views: 349,254

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Keywords: pennies, valuable pennies, pennies worth money, pennies worth big money, how much is penny worth, error pennies, penny errors, penny worth a million dollars, penny worth a lot, expensive coins, coin collecting, most valuable pennies, most expensive pennies, pennies worth a lot of money, million dollar pennies, super expensive pennies, coin collecting pennies, searching valuable pennies, looking for rare errors

Id: FKcCVh8iy3g

Length: 12min 0sec (720 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 31 2019