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Why the
1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent is Valuable
by D. L. Crane The
1909-S VDB Lincoln
Cent is one of the rarest of
all Lincoln cents and its retail value will vary
depending on upon its condition. In addition the
accurate value can only be determined when the
exact grade of the coin is known. Be aware that
there are considerably more counterfeit 1909-S VDB cents out there than real ones. For the
purpose of knowing its genuine value, you need
to have the coin certified. The two top
certification companies are PCGS and NGC located
at www.pcgs.com
and
www.ngccoin.com.
The designer for the Lincoln Cent,
Victor David
Brenner changed everything about the design of
Lincoln Cents by placing the image of a real
person on a coin made for circulation. It was
not until 1909 that Victor David Brenner created
the legendary bust of Abraham Lincoln that is so
well-known by all of us today.
The most significant part of the story all comes
down to the initials on the back of the coin.
V.D.B. are Victor David Brenner’s initials, the
renowned designer of the Lincoln cent. Victor
David Brenner positioned his initials on the
reverse of the Lincoln cent, near the bottom rim
on the reverse under the wheat stalks on the
back side of the coin
By placing his initials near the bottom of the
back of the coin Brenner started quite an
uproar. The people by and large loved the
Lincoln cent when it was first released, however
some had a problem with prominence of Brenner's
initials on the coin. They basically thought the
initials were too big and noticeable. The
letters V.D.B. in spite of their small size were
noticeable enough to create a hullabaloo with
the people and Mint officials, who insisted on
their removal right away. When this was done
later on in 1909, it resulted in the making of
four varieties: 1909 (with and without V.D.B.)
and 1909-S (with and without V.D.B.). The 1909-S
V.D.B is the rarest of the four varieties and it
debuted on August 2, 2009.
Altogether there are six different 1909 pennies.
There are four Lincolns – the
1909 VDB penny
with no mintmark, struck at the Philadelphia
mint, the 1909 S VSB struck at San Francisco
mint, in addition coins without the designer
initials from each mint. There are as well two
Indian Head cents of 1909, one from the
Philadelphia mint and one from the
San Francisco
mint.
The VDB pennies were made at Philadelphia and
San Francisco. The 1909 S VDB penny is the one
made at the San Francisco Mint so it carries the
S, which is the mint mark for the San Francisco
mint. Due to the fact that there were so many
less of the S VDB struck, the coin is most
definitely a rarity. Without fail, collectors
have always paid more for the 1909 S VDB than
for any other Lincoln penny, of course that is
except for the 1943 copper cent. The number of
coins with the initials made at the S mint was
the smallest of all the 1909 pennies.
In fact, the 1909-S V.D.B. Penny has long been
considered one of the key dates in the series,
filling the dreams of collectors young and old.
It is important to understand that millions of
people collect Lincoln Head Cents and it makes
it obvious why the 484,000 mintage may seem
high, but it is not. To be clear there are
clearly not a sufficient number of 1909-S VDB
Pennies to meet all of the collector’s demands.
The value of a 1909 S VDB cent is around
$750-800 in Good, and upwards of
2,500 in
Uncirculated grades to nearly $100,000 in
PCGS MS-67 Red. There have been some badly
worn, even damaged, 1909 S VDB pennies that can
be occasionally found on eBay and in coin
dealers' catalogs at reasonable prices.
Click Here to see the Price Guide for 1909-S VDB
Lincoln Cents.
The 1909 S VDB penny is without a doubt one of
the most costly regular-strike (non-error)
rarities of modern U.S. coins. It is also one of
those coins that has almost seen always upward
movements in values for the last several
decades.
Go to
www.BestCoin.Com for a Free Coin Guide and
More Coin Collecting Information. |