Do you have an old penny that’s worth up to a million dollars? Experts say it’s unlikely. You might have read one of several headlines splashed online recently about valuable pennies in circulation, “Lincoln Wheat Penny Worth $124M You Could Have at Home” reads one, but the truth is most pennies are worth one cent or maybe a little more.
Reality doesn’t live up to the hype, says one expert.
“There are million-dollar pennies, but no $100 million pennies,” said Donn Pearlman, spokesperson for the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), a non-profit trade association made up of several of the country’s rare coin specialists. “Only a handful of Lincoln cents from 1909 to 1959 with the wheat stalks on the reverse side (“wheat pennies”) have sold for $1 million or more.”
The most expensive U.S. coin in history, a $20 gold coin, a 1933 “Double Eagle” coin, sold for $18.9 million at auction in 2021. The rarest pennies, which may still be in circulation, are 1943 copper Lincoln wheat pennies, some of which were made accidentally because the U.S. mints were meant to use zinc to conserve copper for the World War II effort, said John Feigenbaum, publisher of rare coin price guide Greysheet.
On occasion, some 1943 pennies have sold for $1 million, and one sold for well over $200,000 at auction in 2019.
Depending on their condition, those 1943 Lincoln wheat pennies would be worth a maximum of anywhere from $100,000 to $250,000, Feigenbaum said to USA TODAY.
But the chances of owning a near-priceless penny are like “saying your lottery ticket could be worth $100,000. Sure, anything can happen, right? But not very likely,” added Feigenbaum, who is also the executive director of the PNG.
How much is wheat pennies worth?
So-called “wheat pennies” take their name from the reverse side of the coin having wheat stalks that encircle the “One Cent” inscription. They were made from 1909 through 1958. In 1959, the wheat stalks were cut down and pennies started to feature an engraving of the Lincoln Memorial.
Most Lincoln wheat pennies are not extremely valuable and are only worth a few cents above one cent. Some will run into the hundreds of dollars, depending on condition and year minted. Some vintages, particularly those with minting errors, can be worth thousands.
But news about super-valuable “Lincoln wheat pennies” strains credulity. Most likely, the headlines are fabricated by artificial intelligence as a traffic-building ploy, Feigenbaum said.
“These coins are improbably in people’s change,” he said.
Nevertheless, all of the online-fueled excitement has led to “coin shops being flooded with these people who think they’ve got something that’s rare, but they don’t,” according to Feigenbaum.
More interest in coins has resulted in overpriced coins being sold at eBay and Etsy, and there are even China-made Lincoln wheat pennies being sold as counterfeits.
“If I’ve seen these coins. someone is periodically being taken in,” Feigenbaum said.
What do I do with some pennies or other coins that I believe are worth money?
Although the most valuable coins tend to be in collections and have been “sold and resold” very publicly, Feigenbaum said, occasionally people might inherit a stash of well-preserved coins or buy some at an estate sale.
Learn about your coins
Although there are apps you can use to look up your coins, they’re not always reliable. But you can verify the worth of coins in “The 2026 Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins,” which is found in book stores and on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble websites. “It answers all sorts of questions, like, ‘Oh, if I’m considering collecting Lincoln cents, how much am I going to have to pay?'” said Feigenbaum, an editor of the book. “You’ll find in that book there’s no million-dollar cents.”
Go have your coins graded
Your coins can be authenticated at their worth, just like jewelry is, by a number of services, including CAC, Numismatic Guaranty Company, and Professional Coin Grading Service.