The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsI just found a 1945 wheathead penny.
Anybody know how much it's worth?
Tobin S.
(10,418 posts)If you find a penny that old in circulation, chances are it is poor condition. Generally, wheat pennies are only worth more if they are in mint state condition. There are a few exceptions, of course, but I don't think that's the case with the coin you have.
antiquie
(4,299 posts)Ino
(3,366 posts)1945 D Wheat Penny
CoinTrackers.com has estimated the 1945 D Wheat Penny Value | CoinTrackers at a minimum of 15 cents, one in perfect condition can be worth $4 or more.
Type: Wheat Penny
Year: 1945
Mint Mark: D
Face Value: 0.01 USD
Total Produced: 266,268,000 [?]
Silver Content: 0%
Numismatic Value: 15 cents to $4
Value: As a rough estimate of this coins value you can assume this coin in poor condition will be valued at somewhere around 15 cents, while one in "perfect" condition can bring $4. This price does not reference any standard coin grading scale. So when we say poor, we mean worn more than would be expected from a coin in this age, and perfect meaning it looks "perfect" without flaw and possibly even certified.
http://cointrackers.com/coins/13599/1945-d-wheat-penny/
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)Probably not many.
Ino
(3,366 posts)Everyone is hoarding them, methinks! (I know I am)
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)when they were replaced with the Lincoln Memorial design. Wheat cents were hard to find in circulation even back in 1967, when I first started looking for them.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)Lots of coin dealers have bins of wheat pennies from the '40s and '50s that they sell for 7 cents each, sometimes less than that. A 1945-D in poor condition is going to be worth around 3 cents.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)When I left home, my dad thought he was being helpful and rolled them up and took them to the bank. LOL
Wish I had them now!
C Moon
(12,226 posts)trackfan
(3,650 posts)Really. About a week ago I found one among my pocket change. 1945.
edbermac
(15,952 posts)1934 the earliest.
The Magistrate
(95,268 posts)Found it a while back in amongst the change; use it for a scale indicator in photographs of very small modelling projects.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)There's still a lot around, unfortunately.
malthaussen
(17,241 posts)I may exaggerate slightly, but figure five of them would buy you a bottle of coke in 1945, and I doubt you'd get that much for them now.
Or even better, a bottle of Pepsi. "Twice as much for a nickel too!"
-- Mal
DFW
(54,506 posts)Because copper was needed for war materiel, the USA made cents out of steel in 1943. A very few planchets of the usual bronze alloy did get struck by mistake at all the mints in 1943, but most of them were caught and remelted. They are worth in the tens of thousands even in worn condition. Many people try to fake 1943 bronze cents by copper-plating the steel ones, but they don't get far. A simple magnet will tell you if the coin is steel or not.
As for common dates of wheat cents, dealers offer them by the bag of 5000 for under $300 including shipping, or less than 6¢ apiece.