- Bronze Indian Head cents remained in production without interruption for nearly half a century before giving way to the Lincoln design in 1909. The design remained the same for the entire run except for minute changes in 1886, when the then Chief Engraver, Charles Barber, slightly lowered the relief and made a small change in the position of.
- The Indian Head Cent was a mainstay of U.S. Coinage until 1909, when it gave way to the Lincoln Cent. Since then, the Indian Head Cent has been extremely popular with coin collectors. There are just a few key dates that dominate the series. These are the Indian Head Cents that have received the most attention in the past, and are most likely to.
In 1909, the Lincoln cent design replaced the Indian Head penny, but not until almost 300,000 Indian Head cents were produced at the San Francisco mint. This extremely low mintage makes this another key for the Indian Head cent.
- 1909 Lincoln Wheat Pennies
Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez
Coin Info
N/A
United States
Copper Coin
$0.01 USD
27,995,000
U.S. Mint
1909
1909 was the first year that the Lincoln Wheat Penny was minted. Replacing Indian Head Pennies, which were minted from 1859 through 1909, Lincoln Pennies were welcomed by massive crowds that gathered at banks on August 2nd when the new one-cent coins arrived in commerce. While the coins were highly popular with the public from day one, there was initial outcry about the prominence of the initials of Victor David Brenner, the designer of the Lincoln Wheat Penny. His initials, VDB, are located on the reverse side near the rim and centered below the wheat stalks. The quick removal of the initials led to the creation of several varieties of Wheat Penny coins, which are discussed below.
The Rare 1909 Wheat Penny Coins
The first Wheat Penny coins in 1909 were minted at the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints and were struck for a few weeks before the removal of the VDB initials. Because of the short period of time during which 1909 VDB Pennies were struck, there is a relatively small number of these coins in existence. There were 27,995,000 1909 VDB Lincoln Wheat Penny coins made and just 484,000 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents struck.
The latter coin is one with which you may be more familiar; given its very small original population, there are many times fewer 1909-S VDB coins available than coin collector demand requires, and therefore values on this scarce coin are higher than for any other regular-issue Lincoln cent. In fact, even the most highly worn 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents command a price of $600 to $800, with many in better grades selling for much more. The non-VDB Lincoln cents of 1909 – the 1909 and 1909-S – are also popular coins, though more than 72 million of non-VDB 1909 Pennies were struck.
The 1909-S Lincoln Penny is a somewhat scarce coin (1,825,000 struck) that usually sells for between $100 and $200 in the lower worn grades. There is a noteworthy die variety among 1909-S (non-VDB) Pennies that incorporates a regular S mintmark over a horizontal S. These are worth approximately the same value as regular 1909-S Pennies.
Other Years From This Coin Series
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
I’ve noticed that there isn’t a “worth” for the 1909 VDB Philadelphia penny. I have one but have no idea the value & would appreciate if you could let me know. Frankly i just like finding odd & old coins.
British penny. Values, images, and specifications for penny coins from the UK, Great Britain, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, dependancies, and British colonies from 1801 to 1967. UK and British coin values index UK coin values - 1801 to 1967 UK penny coin values - 1801 to 1967 Further detail All Coin Values directory AllCoinValues.com on Facebook. What is a King George V penny from the UK worth? Values, images, and specifications for King George V era penny coins from. The British coin of 1 penny depicts Her Majesty The Queen. The copper plated steel coin captions ‘ELIZABETH II D G REG F D’ and ‘one penny’.
Sherry DipLatest Blog Posts
Latest Blog Posts
1909 Indian Head Penny/ebay
wo scarce coins came out in 1909: the 1909-S Indian head cent and the 1909-S 'VDB' Lincoln cent. Both are highly desirable among collectors of small cents.
The 1909-S Indian has a lower mintage than the 1909-S VDB cent, but for most grades sells for a lot less. This raises the question, why? Usually the coin with the lower mintage has higher market value, but not in this case.
The reasons come down to simple supply and demand.
In 1909, excitement over the new Lincoln cent created a frenzy of buying of the new coins. The short five-day period of 1909 VDB cents gobbled up all 26 million Philadelphia-minted cents. However, the much smaller San Francisco Mint issue was probably put into circulation despite its much lower mintage than its cousin issued later in the year (August 1909).
Thus the 1909-S Indian head cent was overlooked by hoarders and speculators as the new Lincoln cents were eagerly anticipated by the American public.
In the century since these two coins were released, the market value of the 1909-S Indian was often behind that of the 1909-S VDB cent — although in the 1920s, one could buy uncirculated 1909-S VDB cents for 25 cents each while 1909-S Indian cents in uncirculated condition sold for $1 and more.
By the time the first coin boards were printed in the 1930s, the empty space in most collections was the 1909-S VDB. Many fewer Indian head cent boards were made and sold, as there were far fewer collectors of that series at the time.
In fact, to date, the Lincoln cent is the most popular coin series with collectors as witnessed by the number of coin albums sold for the series by the major album makers, Dansco and Whitman.
* * *
I collected both series when I was in school in the 1930s and managed to find three of the 1909-S VDB cents and never found a 1909-S Indian head cent in change. But since I lived in Brooklyn, S-mint coins were uncommon in circulation.
I did know old-time collectors such as Bill Tracy, Charles Ruby and Ralph 'Curley' Mitchell who lived in California in the 1930s and 1940s and they found both coins in circulation in the early days.
My late friend Maurice M. Gould, who operated a coin business in Boston at that time, found none of the two coins in circulation but purchased many from collectors who either found them in change or bought them in 1909 when first released.
I visited the coin shop of the late Bob Johnson in San Francisco in 1963 when I was doing postgraduate work at nearby University of California, Berkeley, and he showed me a full roll of uncirculated 1909-S VDB cents he had recently purchased from a woman whose late husband bought them at a bank in 1909. He said he paid $1,000 for the roll. He also mentioned that he never bought a roll of 1909-S Indian head cents, although single coins showed up fairly often from customers who found them in change.
Over the decades, the aura of the 1909-S VDB cent has grown to the point where choice uncirculated coins are bringing over $10,000 at auction. Uncirculated 1909-S Indians still bring less, although actual population numbers are much lower.
In the July 2009 price list of California-based L&C Coins, one of the largest retailers of U.S. coins, the following were listed for sale:
Two 1909S Indian head cents, one graded PCGS VF-30 at $850 and one graded NGC VF-25 at $825. In the same price list were eleven 1909-S VDB cents ranging from a PCGS VF-20 for $1,500 to an NGC MS-65BN for $3,500. This illustrates that scarcity does not always equate to value. The mintage of the 1909-S Indian was 309,000, while the mintage of the 1909-S VDB Lincoln was 484,000.
There are numerous examples of rare coins bringing very different prices despite their small populations. A good example is the famed 1804 silver dollar; one recently sold for more than $2 million. There are 15 known specimens.
Going down the list of high-priced coins sold at auction, there are many coins that sold for less than half that amount even though only one or two specimens are known. This exemplifies the old economic axiom that supply and demand is the main pricing factor.
The 1909-S Indian has a lower mintage than the 1909-S VDB cent, but for most grades sells for a lot less. This raises the question, why? Usually the coin with the lower mintage has higher market value, but not in this case.
The reasons come down to simple supply and demand.
In 1909, excitement over the new Lincoln cent created a frenzy of buying of the new coins. The short five-day period of 1909 VDB cents gobbled up all 26 million Philadelphia-minted cents. However, the much smaller San Francisco Mint issue was probably put into circulation despite its much lower mintage than its cousin issued later in the year (August 1909).
Thus the 1909-S Indian head cent was overlooked by hoarders and speculators as the new Lincoln cents were eagerly anticipated by the American public.
In the century since these two coins were released, the market value of the 1909-S Indian was often behind that of the 1909-S VDB cent — although in the 1920s, one could buy uncirculated 1909-S VDB cents for 25 cents each while 1909-S Indian cents in uncirculated condition sold for $1 and more.
By the time the first coin boards were printed in the 1930s, the empty space in most collections was the 1909-S VDB. Many fewer Indian head cent boards were made and sold, as there were far fewer collectors of that series at the time.
In fact, to date, the Lincoln cent is the most popular coin series with collectors as witnessed by the number of coin albums sold for the series by the major album makers, Dansco and Whitman.
I collected both series when I was in school in the 1930s and managed to find three of the 1909-S VDB cents and never found a 1909-S Indian head cent in change. But since I lived in Brooklyn, S-mint coins were uncommon in circulation.
I did know old-time collectors such as Bill Tracy, Charles Ruby and Ralph 'Curley' Mitchell who lived in California in the 1930s and 1940s and they found both coins in circulation in the early days.
My late friend Maurice M. Gould, who operated a coin business in Boston at that time, found none of the two coins in circulation but purchased many from collectors who either found them in change or bought them in 1909 when first released.
I visited the coin shop of the late Bob Johnson in San Francisco in 1963 when I was doing postgraduate work at nearby University of California, Berkeley, and he showed me a full roll of uncirculated 1909-S VDB cents he had recently purchased from a woman whose late husband bought them at a bank in 1909. He said he paid $1,000 for the roll. He also mentioned that he never bought a roll of 1909-S Indian head cents, although single coins showed up fairly often from customers who found them in change.
Over the decades, the aura of the 1909-S VDB cent has grown to the point where choice uncirculated coins are bringing over $10,000 at auction. Uncirculated 1909-S Indians still bring less, although actual population numbers are much lower.
In the July 2009 price list of California-based L&C Coins, one of the largest retailers of U.S. coins, the following were listed for sale:
Two 1909S Indian head cents, one graded PCGS VF-30 at $850 and one graded NGC VF-25 at $825. In the same price list were eleven 1909-S VDB cents ranging from a PCGS VF-20 for $1,500 to an NGC MS-65BN for $3,500. This illustrates that scarcity does not always equate to value. The mintage of the 1909-S Indian was 309,000, while the mintage of the 1909-S VDB Lincoln was 484,000.
There are numerous examples of rare coins bringing very different prices despite their small populations. A good example is the famed 1804 silver dollar; one recently sold for more than $2 million. There are 15 known specimens.
Going down the list of high-priced coins sold at auction, there are many coins that sold for less than half that amount even though only one or two specimens are known. This exemplifies the old economic axiom that supply and demand is the main pricing factor.