Why are 1980 pennies worth

This, alongside a major collectible, doubled die variety of the date and condition rarities at the upper end of the grading scale, make the Lincoln cent quite a bit more interesting to the collector than meets the eye. Increasing copper prices drove up the cost of manufacture, raising the specter of negative seigniorage and its attendant hoarding. More than 1. In , the Philadelphia Mint struck 7,,, cents in the copper alloy. Cent hoarding began in the s, fueled by at least two motives. One, consumers and collectors were simply pulling them out of circulation and not using them in commerce.

The month-long effort was extended. A June 11, press release provided a number of reasons not to hoard cents. Copper prices cooled in the mids, but the respite was short-lived. She eventually backed down after an outcry from collectors, but cents continued to disappear from circulation. By the early s, the country was again facing a shortage of cents. According to officials consulted for an article that appeared published in The Washington Post in May of , collectors were not driving the coins out of circulation.

In a article in the Times of Northwest Indiana , Mint spokesperson Michael White attributed the cent shortage of the s to rising copper prices, according published in response to another cent shortage in the s. Abundant on the rarity scale, largely due to its third highest mintage number of the wheat series.

A D penny is part of the second collecting era to wheat cent. In fact, much like other Lincoln Pennies from the s and s, it is not a rare occurrence to find a Lincoln Penny in circulation even today, though a good bit of roll searching may be in order to find one. At any rate, buying any of the regular-issue Pennies can be done inexpensively.

These are Abundant on the rarity scale; initial production provided a huge quantity to circulation. In searching for higher value, look to the reverse side of the coin. After the war ended, the Mint began to produce copper pennies again. However, in , the Mint produced a few copper pennies.

One possible reason for this is because the copper plates were accidentally left in a few machines. While the steel pennies are worth a few bucks, the rare copper version is worth more. Skip to content Common questions.