Check Your Pennies- You Could Have One Worth Up To $2,000
It's time to empty out that piggy bank because you might have a penny that is worth over 100,000 times its face value!
At home, I have a big tin container that has a pretty good chunk of change stored inside of it. If I had to guess, there's around $100 worth of change in there. However, I am going to have to go home after work to make sure there's not anything in there that could be worth more than the average coin would be. There's a certain type of penny floating around out there that is worth up to $2,000 and I know that I have seen one that looks just like it in my coin collection.
1909 Lincoln Penny Sells for Over One Thousand Dollars
The 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent is a favorite among collectors, and one of the most valuable pennies to ever circulate. Recently, one of these pennies recently sold for over 100,000 times its face value - $1,111.85. What's so special about this penny for it to sell for that high? The coin was designed by Victor David Brenner, who designed pennies for forty years, but none of those pennies are as valuable as the one he designed in 1009. You see, in 1909, he did something very special. Brenner printed his initials - VDB - on the back of the 1909 Lincoln Wheat cent.
According to the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS):
Once the coins were issued, some newspaper reporters took issue with the placement of the initials, arguing that the bottom of the reverse was far from inconspicuous and that the initials amounted to free, illegal advertising for the designer. Instead of placing the initials elsewhere in new dies, mint employees simply removed them entirely from the coin, and a new round of cents were produced without the VDB.
There were only 484,000 of the VDB pennies that were minted before the design was changed. If you find that you have one at home, you might have struck gold. According to The Sun, the VDB pennies range in value based on the grade and condition of the coin. USA Coin Book lists the highest and lowest prices at $2,277 and $847. So if you have one of these pennies, you could make quite the profit off of it!
How To Spot Rare And Valuable Coins
You might be curious now, to see if you have some change at home, like this penny, that could be worth some money. Dump out that ole' piggy bank and try to spot something that looks out of place. You never know if you have a coin that could have an error on it. Here's what you should be looking for:
First, search the coins on both sides for a design that you have never seen, an error in which the printing looks weird, or something like the wrong denomination printed on the coin. Once you do that, search the full name and year of the coin on eBay, select “sold” items, and sort the results by “highest value” first.
If your coin fits that criteria and description, you could sell it on eBay or another online marketplace to coin collectors. Then, you can turn that quarter, dime, nickel, or penny into maybe a few hundred or thousand dollars!
(H/T- The Sun)