Which pennies are worth keeping

Most pennies are worth 1 cent, but to coin collectors, some are worth more than their weight in gold. Earlier this year, an ordinary looking penny made headlines when it was found among the possessions of a man named Don Lutes.

Lutes owned the coin until his death in In failing health, he consigned it to Heritage. Proceeds of the sale went to the Berkshire Athenaeum in his hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, according to the Dallas-based auction house. A penny's worth depends on its quality and rarity.

While most pennies are only worth a few bucks, highly coveted ones might be sitting in your pocket or stuck somewhere in your couch cushions. The odds are long, but they're still well worth searching for. So before you say, "Keep the change," check to see if you have any of these valuable pennies:.

Image: Heritage Auctions, HA. Only a handful of these bronze pennies have been discovered, including the one found by Lutes. In order to preserve copper for the war effort, the U. Mint greatly reduced the number of Lincoln cents it produced.

The San Francisco Mint struck only , examples of the penny that year. More than one billion steel cents were struck, but a few were accidentally made from bronze planchets. It's unknown exactly how many exist, but the number totals around two dozen from the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints combined.

The more common Steel Lincoln cent. The steel cents were officially a one-year-only production, but a few leftover steel planchets were inadvertently stamped with dated Lincoln cent dies intended for bronze production.

One of the most popular varieties ever struck was the doubled die Lincoln cent. The doubled die penny shows heavy doubling in the obverse inscriptions and the date. One of the most valuable doubled die varieties ever produced is this S penny error.

Doubling is apparent on the obverse in the inscription and date but not the mintmark. The mintmark was hand-punched on the die after it was hubbed the process of creating a working die, where the doubling on this coin would have occurred.

In both the words "Liberty" and "In God We," the letters are doubled. The Lincoln Memorial Cent is especially rare if it has a small letter "S" under the date, plus one more unique feature. The number "7" appears higher than usual, nearly level with the "0. One variety had a widely spaced "AM" in the word "America. The other variety of this rare penny stamped the letters closer together, nearly touching.

The close "AM" version is the more valuable penny of the two. Another double-died error can be found on the Lincoln Memorial Cent. A close examination of Lincoln's ear shows a definitive double stamp. While the front of the Lincoln Memorial Cent looks perfectly ordinary, the back might have a particularly lucrative error. The full backside of the coin is doubled. If you find a penny with everything doubled, the Lincoln Memorial Building included, save it for a rainy day.

While most coins without a mark are from the Philadelphia Mint, Denver was the only mint to strike pennies in It is believed that about 15, to 20, coins were produced in this way. The image on the reverse is sharper than that on the face since the die used for the reverse was a fresh one.

This one appears to be uncirculated and properly stored to avoid wear and retain its bright copper-red color. This penny is another "mistake. The mint returned to using copper planchets in While there are examples of this coin in zinc from both the Philadelphia and Denver Mints, it is estimated that there are no more than 10 from Denver. Lincoln pennies that were minted between and tend to be worth more since they are almost percent copper, rather than an alloy. Improperly prepared dies can result in coins with a "double" image.

The most well-known was in , but this also occurred in coins dated , , , S, , S, and Originally believed to be counterfeit, the government destroyed five coins before acknowledging the error. In January , a doubled die obverse uncirculated penny, red-brown in color, sold at Heritage Auctions in Orlando. More than 4 million of these coins were minted, but they were inconsistent in quality, so problem-free examples are fairly rare.

This particular coin was not only in excellent condition. It also was struck from a fresh set of coin dies. While the excellent condition makes it valuable, it would be so even in worse condition since only nine other wheat pennies were produced in lesser quantities.