1909-S "VDB" Lincoln Wheat 1 Cent Penny

One of the most collectible pennies in circulation!

In 1909 production of the "Wheat Penny" began in Philadelphia and San Francisco United States mints. The Philadelphia mint produced around 20,000 of the new pennies - and they bear no mint mark. The 1909 pennies from San Francisco have an S right under the date on the front of the coin.

The rarest Lincoln penny from the 1st year of production is known as the 1909-S VDB Cent. "VDB" stands for Victor D. Brenner, who designed the now iconic Lincoln profile and backside of the penny. Due to some design discrepancies, only 484,000 1909-S pennies have Brenner's initials "VDB" on the base of the backside of the coin. That makes these coins very valuable and collectible.

Needless to say, check your 1909-S pennies for the V.D.B initials, these coins are very collectible - even in poor shape. However, if you find one in great condition, they can be worth thousands. Beware of counterfeits when buying these, as the mint mark and V.D.B have been known to be added to coins.

Another fact about all US pennies is up until 1982, pennies contained 95% copper, and many coin collectors will keep all pennies dated 1982 and prior because the copper content makes them worth more than 1 penny.

We have over 700 "wheat penny" values in our coin price database, check them out here.

When Should I Grade A Coin?

PCGS & Other Services Are Not For Every Collector

Recently I have been spending time with a long time coin collector who is starting to get some of his best coins graded by PCGS. We've been going through each coin wondering if it's worth sending it in to get an official grade. It's a fun, yet tedious process.

Here are a few of our steps in determining what coins to send in:

1. Based on your own experience - examine your ungraded coins & compare to other graded coins you might have to determine your own grade.
2. Check the PCGS Population Report to see the range of grades that collectors have gotten already.
3. Check eBay to see if collectors are paying a premium for high grades.

Lastly, we ask "Why do I want to grade this coin?"

1. Do you want to sell it?
2. Do you want to see if it achieves a high grade?
3. Do you just like the protection & storage a grading holder provides?

For most collectors, if you answer NO to 2 or more of these questions, you probably are better off not sending the coin in for grading & just keeping your coin (and the saved money) in your collection.


If you answer YES to any of the 3 questions, and you have the budget to pay for the grading fees - I say go for it. It's always fun getting a package back from PCGS & provides some excitement opening it up to see what your coins were graded. Let alone the potential gain in value you might see if your coin is desired by coin collectors.

In short, sending your coins in to be graded is fun, but not for every collector. Many collectors I know never even pay attention to condition, they just like having the coins. While others only buy graded coins because condition is important to them. Either way, you can't really go wrong.



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