Not all the 1995 wheat pennies are worth $5000, but some in splendid conditions can reach up to this figure.
Updated Feb 14, 2025
Top 10 Rare Pennies of All Time and Their Values
When it comes to wondering about the rare pennies, several names of the coins start to circulate in the minds of people. Some well-known names are the 1945 Wheat Penny, the 1919 Wheat Penny and the 1921 Silver Dollar, but are these actually the rarest penny in the history of the US Mint? Although these pennies hold a special role in the timeline, they are not on the list.
If not these, what other pennies are the rarest to find and value the highest? Let’s go through the article and find out the rarest American pennies with the highest value in the market.
List of Rare Pennies Minted in America
Here is the list of the 10 rarest pennies minted in the history of the US Mint. Carefully read about them to learn why they are valued so much in the markets.
1943 P Bronze Wheat Penny
The 1943 P Bronze Wheat Penny is considered the most valued penny of all time, with a thick membrane over the history of the US contribution to World War II.
During this time, the US has a shortage of copper due to the high production of bullets and their cartilage cases. This led to the rise of 1943 steel pennies from copper pennies, but some copper pennies were accidentally struck in the mints, which were later highly valued by the numismatists.
These pennies are also famous because of their extreme scarcity in the economy. Only 20 pennies were minted in the mint of Philadelphia.
1943 D BN Wheat Penny
Similar to the history of the 1943 P Bronze penny, the 1943 D BN wheat penny is also an error coin. These pennies were accidentally minted in the mint of Denver, with an extremely low mintage.
You can understand its rarity from the fact that there is only one 1943 D BN wheat penny known in existence. However, more coins could also exist, but they are currently not discovered. If you find any similar-looking coins, get ready to fill up your bags.
1943 S Bronze Wheat Penny
The 1943 S bronze wheat pennies are another example of error coins, which were mistakenly struck in the copper planchets during the minting in World War II. Moreover, the S mint mark on the obverse further adds to the value, as the San Francisco mint has the lowest mint rate in the US.
Furthermore, there are only 5 pennies known for their existence. Any remaining are expected to raise the previous value records of the 1943 S bronze wheat penny.
1944 S Steel Wheat Penny
In 1944, the minting of pennies was again switched from steel to copper as the war was close to its armistice. Again mistakenly, the pennies that were meant to be struck with copper were minted with steel. This introduced us to the valuable 1944 S steel pennies. These coins were more valuable than any other 1944 steel error coins, as the San Francisco mint has the lowest mintage rate.
Experts estimated that there could be 20-30 surviving 1944 S steel pennies out there, but only 2 pennies are known.
1944 P Steel Wheat Penny
The 1944 P steel wheat pennies are also error coins that were not meant to be minted in 1944, as the steel pennies were decided to stop minting after the sufficient supply of copper in the USA. These pennies were made with the stuck steel in the planchets of Philadelphia’s mint.
Coin collectors are ready to pay huge amounts of money for these coins, as there are only 20–30 coins available in existence as compared to the double number of survival pennies.
1944 D Steel Wheat Penny
With a low mintage rate of the mint of Denver, the 1944 Wheat Penny is a rare penny whose demand and value skyrocketed on the value chart. This error penny was also accidentally minted in the Denver Mint when the composition was again switched to copper; some planchets were hit with steel.
According to the assumptions of experts, there are only 25-30 1944 D steel wheat pennies available in the economy, with zero known.
1922 No D Wheat Penny
The 1922 P shallow D wheat penny is a big error Denver-minted penny that doesn’t carry the mint mark, i.e., D on the obverse. It is one of the unique types of penny error, where all the minted coins were struck with no marks.
In 1922, the Denver Mint was the only institution responsible for minting the coins, drawing the attention of collectors to this issue. Although the mintage of these coins are around 7,160,000; only 15,000 are expected to survive, making it a rare penny.
1888 Indian Head Cent Penny: Last 8 Over 7
An addition of a unique penny other than wheat pennies to the list, the 1888 8 over 7 Indian head penny, is an overdated error coin. The error can be witnessed with the naked eye on the last digit of the year engraved, where the 8 is struck on the 7. You can see the error in the image, where a small chip amount of striking is out of the 8 impressions.
Experts say that the minting of these coins is unknown, but around 500 articles are available in different grades.
1856 Flying Eagle Cent Penny
The 1856 Flying Eagle cent penny is another rare American penny that is valuable for its extreme scarcity. This coin was struck before the actual beginning of the mintage process. It was a design trial penny that was limitedly released before the official release in the economy. Only members of Congress were offered this penny for look-ups.
However, the exact number of these coins is not known; assumptions say that a few thousand could exist.
1873 Indian Head Cent Penny: Double Liberty
With one of the most common errors in striking pennies, i.e., double die, the 1873 Indian Head double liberty penny has entered the list. This error coin can be identified from the double engraving of the word “LIBERTY” on the headband of the visual representation of Native Americans.
These coins were mainly produced in the Philadelphia Mint with around 11,676,500, and only 500-1000 are known to exist.
Value Chart of Rare Pennies
The ranking of the rarest pennies is incomplete without the actual market value comparison. So, we have provided the value chart of the top 10 rare pennies along with different grade values.
| Date | G-VG | F-VF | EF | AU | MS (60 -66) |
| 1943 P Bronze Wheat Penny | – | – | – | – | $1,000,000 |
| 1943 D BN Wheat Penny | – | – | – | – | $987,000 |
| 1943 S Bronze Wheat Penny | – | – | $181,500 | $231,000 | $775,000 |
| 1944 S Steel Wheat Penny | – | – | – | – | $490,500 |
| 1944 P Steel Wheat Penny | – | – | – | $34,650 | $44,000 – $153,000 |
| 1944 D Steel Wheat Penny | – | – | – | – | $38,500 – $89,000 |
| 1922 No D Wheat Penny | $799 | $758 – $1,295 | $1,850 | $3,450 | $11,730 – $82,400 |
| 1888 Indian Head Cent Penny: Last 8 Over 7 | – | – | – | – | $77,706 |
| 1856 Flying Eagle Cent Penny | – | – | – | – | $29,948 |
| 1873 Indian Head Cent Penny: Double Liberty | – | – | – | – | $14,912 |
Remember that these are not exact figures. The actual amount may differ, depending on a combination of factors.
Why are Pennies Valued so High?
The reason pennies are valued so highly is hidden in the quest for rarity and historical significance. All the aforementioned pennies are extremely rare to find in the markets, with around 90%-98% vanished from circulation. Each of the pennies mentioned in the list is somehow connected to the history of America.
Along with this, numismatists value penny for their minting errors, like double die, shallow impression, bold engravings, overstriking, omission of markings, etc. The value of these pennies can go up to several millions of US dollars.
Conclusion
With the aforementioned list of most valued and rarest pennies, it is clear that the Wheat pennies are the most worth holding pennies in the history of the USA. But this is only true for the MS60-63 graded pennies, certified Sheldon coin grades. The value lowers as we go down in the certified grades.
Remember that the values mentioned in the table are just assumptions; the actual value could be higher or even lower.
Author - Suprabha Bhosale
Finance Writer
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