The Lincoln cent (1909–present) is the people's series, and its key dates are household names even outside the hobby. That fame has a shadow: these are the most faked coins in American collecting, because the raw material for deception — common Lincolns — costs a penny. The central rule of this guide is short: the famous ones get bought certified or not at all.
We don't print price tables that rot. Every price claim on this page is a shape — where the jumps live — and the links below open live and sold listings so you're always pricing off today's market, not last year's guide.
The certified-only list
- 1909-S VDB — the series' celebrity key (San Francisco, designer's initials, low mintage). The classic fake is an added "S" or added VDB on common hosts. Valuable in every grade; counterfeit pressure at every grade.
- 1914-D — arguably faked even more than the '09-S VDB, via altered 1944-D dates and added mintmarks. Certified only, at any price.
- 1922 "No D" (strong reverse) — a die-state variety, not just a missing mintmark, with precise diagnostics only attribution confirms. Raw "1922 plain" cents are a minefield.
- 1955 Doubled Die Obverse — the most famous error coin in the world, and counterfeited to match. The dramatic doubling is easy to fake convincingly in photos.
- 1943 bronze / 1944 steel off-metal cents — six-figure rarities with an entire industry of copper-plated 1943 steel fakes. Any genuine example trades exclusively through certification.
- 1969-S and 1972 doubled dies, 1931-S — the second tier; same logic, slightly lower stakes.
The magnet and the scale — and their limits
Hobby folklore says a magnet catches fake 1943 bronzes (plated steel sticks) and a scale catches altered dates. True, and worth doing — but the serious fakes pass kitchen tests. Home diagnostics filter the lazy counterfeits; certification exists for the rest. On four-figure-and-up Lincolns there is no substitute.
What's fine to buy raw
Almost everything else. Common wheat cents by the roll, teens-and-twenties semi-commons in circulated grades, memorial cents, even mid-tier better dates in worn condition where the price doesn't yet pay for fraud. The series' charm is that 95% of it is a low-stakes, raw-friendly playground — the danger concentrates entirely in the famous names.
Grade economics on the keys
Key-date Lincolns hold value across the whole grade spectrum — a well-worn genuine 1909-S VDB is still meaningful money, which is precisely why fakes target every grade. Value steps are steady rather than cliff-like through circulated grades, then steepen in mint state, with color designations (BN/RB/RD — brown, red-brown, full red) driving big premiums on uncirculated copper. Full-red gems of early keys are auction-house material; attractive mid-circulated examples are the sane collector's target.
Shop the keys where the cert number is visible
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→Live: certified 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents →Live: certified 1914-D Lincoln cents →Sold: certified 1955 doubled die centsEvery listing should show a checkable cert — run it through the service's lookup before bidding (our verification guide walks each one).
The Lincoln series will happily teach your kids collecting for pocket change and simultaneously host the most sophisticated fakes in the hobby. Keep the two zones straight — raw for the playground, plastic for the famous — and it's the most rewarding series there is.