The date is one of the last ones in the Wheat penny series, which was in mintage from 1909 to 1958
The penny series gets its name from the reverse of the penny, which features two ears of wheat surrounding the words “one cent” and “United States of America”.
Interestingly enough, the 1956 Lincoln penny without a mintmark isn’t that valuable in circulated grades.
According to USA Coin Book, it is only worth 39 cents in average condition.
The 1956 penny without a mintmark has a reported mintage that exceeds 420million.
Meanwhile, the one in the eBay listing features an error, which can drive up demand among coin collectors.
Right away, when looking at the penny – you can tell it looks different than the others with its silver appearance.
This is because the penny was “stamped” on a 90% pure silver dime, according to the seller.
While this isn’t clear in the description, Roosevelt dimes minted in the 1950s contained 90% silver.
Typically, Lincoln pennies in the Wheat series were made 95% out of copper.
Moreover, the 1956 coin in the listing is an example of a planchet error, which is also known as a double denomination.
“Planchet errors encompass all mistakes resulting from a defective blank, whether or not it has passed through the upsetting mill,” coin service website Fleur de Coin wrote.
The most common planchet error occurs when the “wrong planchet” is put through a coining press machine.
Furthermore, sometimes planchets when fed through the machine contain dies of different denominations.
After 41 bids, the 1956 error penny sold for $386.
That would mean the penny is now worth more than 3.8million percent of its original value.
Another example of a planchet error coin sold for $216 online recently.
The seller claimed that the Washington quarter was struck on a Jefferson nickel.
What other Lincoln pennies are valuable?
There are various other pennies in circulation that could be worth hundreds or thousands.
As always, the value could depend on grade and condition.
One of them is the 1955 double die obverse penny.
A double die means that there is a duplicate of letters, numbers, or words on a coin.
The 1955 date is said to be the most famous one of them all.
It is worth $1,318 on average and up to $17,057 if in an MS63 grade, according to USA Coin Book.
Another Lincoln penny that could be quite valuable is the 1909-S penny with the “VDB” initials.
The initials of designer Victor David Brenner sparked controversy amongst reporters, who took exception to their placement.
The mintage sits at only 484,000 – the lowest in the entire Lincoln series.
A couple of recent examples of the 1909-S VDB coins sold for $1,314, and $2,146 respectively.
To see if your spare change is worth anything, you can check eBay by searching the full name, selecting the “sold” listing, and then toggling the search to “highest value”.
