What is a wheat penny

A Lincoln cent struck between 1909 and 1958 with two wheat ears on the reverse. From 1959 the reverse shows the Lincoln Memorial instead, which is a different and far more common coin.

Where is the mint mark on a Lincoln wheat cent

Below the date on the obverse. D stands for Denver and S for San Francisco; coins struck in Philadelphia carry no mint mark at all. The same date from different mints can differ greatly in scarcity.

Which wheat cents are worth checking

The 1909-S VDB with the designer initials on the reverse, 1914-D, 1931-S, a 1922 cent showing no D from a worn die, and the 1955 doubled die, where the date and lettering are visibly doubled to the naked eye.

Why is the 1943 cent made of steel

Copper was needed for the war, so 1943 cents were struck in zinc-coated steel. They look grey and stick to a magnet. A copper-coloured 1943 cent that still sticks to a magnet is plated, and one that does not stick at all should be examined by a specialist, since altered 1948 dates are a known fake.

Does cleaning a wheat penny increase its value

No. The colour of a copper cent is its own oxide layer, and cleaning removes it permanently. A cleaned surface is read as damage and lowers what a coin can achieve, whatever its date.

Wheat pennies: which 1909–1958 cents are worth keeping

Coins · 9 September 2026

Almost every American household has a jar of them, and almost all of them are worth a cent. The Lincoln cent with two wheat ears on the back was struck from 1909 to 1958 in billions, so scarcity never comes from the design – it comes from a specific year, a specific mint, and how little the coin was handled since. Sorting a jar takes an evening once you know where to look.

1943 steel cent, obverse — A 1943 cent struck in zinc-coated steel – the one wartime year that looks nothing like the rest of the series. Image source

Read three things, in this order

The date. The series runs 1909 to 1958. From 1959 the reverse shows the Lincoln Memorial, which is a different, far more common coin.
The mint mark. A small letter sits under the date: D for Denver, S for San Francisco, nothing at all for Philadelphia. The same year from a different mint can be an entirely different coin in scarcity terms – the principle behind every mint system, explained in the guide to mint marks.
The surface. Original colour and unbroken detail on Lincoln's cheek and the wheat ears matter more than most dates do. What "condition" means in practice is set out in the guide to reading a coin's condition.

The issues worth pulling out of a jar

1909 with VDB on the reverse. The designer Victor David Brenner put his initials at the bottom of the back. Public objection had them removed within weeks, so the initialled coins are a first-year subgroup – and the San Francisco version of it, 1909-S VDB, is the classic key of the whole series.
1914-D and 1931-S. Low-output years at those mints; both are checked by every collector who opens a jar.
1922 without a D. All cents that year were struck at Denver, so a 1922 cent with no visible mint mark comes from a worn or filled die, not from Philadelphia.
1955 doubled die. The date and the lettering appear doubled to the naked eye – not a blur, a clean second image. Doubling that only shows under magnification is usually a different, ordinary effect.
1943 in steel, 1944 in brass. Wartime metal switching produced the two famous transitional errors: a 1943 cent struck in bronze and a 1944 cent struck in steel.

The 1943 cent and its fakes

In 1943 copper went to the war and cents were struck in zinc-coated steel, which is why they look grey and stick to a magnet. That is the fast test, and it works in both directions.

A grey 1943 cent that sticks to a magnet is the normal wartime issue. Hundreds of millions were made.
A copper-coloured 1943 cent that still sticks to a magnet is a plated steel cent – a souvenir, not an error.
A 1943 cent that does not stick to a magnet is worth a specialist's opinion, because the other common fake is a 1948 cent with the 8 reshaped into a 3.

The same reasoning applies to any coin that sounds too good: the cheap fake is always the one that copies the story rather than the metal, as in the guide to telling an original from a copy.

What not to do

Do not clean them. A wheat cent's colour is its own thin oxide layer, and polishing or dipping strips it permanently, leaving a bright surface that every buyer reads instantly as damage – the mechanism is spelled out in the guides to cleaning old coins and toning. Do not store them loose in a jar either: copper picks up marks from its neighbours, and marks are exactly what grading counts. Paper envelopes or inert holders, dry and cool, as in the guide to storing coins.

Value, honestly

Circulated common dates trade as bulk copper by weight, and no sorting changes that. Money in the series concentrates in the few key dates above and in coins that never circulated. Published price lists move constantly and differ by grade, so a number quoted anywhere – including here – is out of date by the time it is read; check a current catalogue or dealer list for the specific date, mint and grade you actually hold.

Compare before you decide

Judging surface and strike is much easier against a reference image than from memory. The open archive holds 128 museum coins from Smithsonian and other open collections, including early American cents and dollars, alongside 855 Soviet coins and 2,136 United States stamps for anyone whose jar also contains paper.

Open the sections: museum coins, world stamps.

Quick answers

Where is the mint mark on a wheat cent?

Directly under the date: D for Denver, S for San Francisco, nothing for Philadelphia.

Which dates are worth checking?

1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1922 with no D, 1931-S and the 1955 doubled die.

Why is my 1943 cent grey?

It is zinc-coated steel, struck that year because copper went to the war. It sticks to a magnet.

Should I clean them?

No. Cleaning strips the original surface and is treated as damage by every buyer.