I just found a 1945 wheathead penny.

[Brigid]

Anybody know how much it's worth?

[Tobin S.]

1. 1 cent

If you find a penny that old in circulation, chances are it is poor condition. Generally, wheat pennies are only worth more if they are in mint state condition. There are a few exceptions, of course, but I don't think that's the case with the coin you have.

[antiquie]

2. Possibly 15 cents (for poor)

Wheat Pennies

[Ino]

3. at least 15 cents

1945 D Wheat Penny

CoinTrackers.com has estimated the 1945 D Wheat Penny Value | CoinTrackers at a minimum of 15 cents, one in perfect condition can be worth $4 or more.


Type: Wheat Penny
Year: 1945
Mint Mark: D
Face Value: 0.01 USD
Total Produced: 266,268,000 [?]
Silver Content: 0%
Numismatic Value: 15 cents to $4
Value: As a rough estimate of this coins value you can assume this coin in poor condition will be valued at somewhere around 15 cents, while one in "perfect" condition can bring $4. This price does not reference any standard coin grading scale. So when we say poor, we mean worn more than would be expected from a coin in this age, and perfect meaning it looks "perfect" without flaw and possibly even certified.

http://cointrackers.com/coins/13599/1945-d-wheat-penny/

[davidpdx]

5. I wonder how many of the 266+ million are still floating around in circulation

Probably not many.

[Ino]

9. It's been a very long time since I've found any

Everyone is hoarding them, methinks! (I know I am)

[Art_from_Ark]

13. Everyone's been hoarding them since 1959

when they were replaced with the Lincoln Memorial design. Wheat cents were hard to find in circulation even back in 1967, when I first started looking for them.

[Art_from_Ark]

12. 15 cents is way too optimistic

Lots of coin dealers have bins of wheat pennies from the '40s and '50s that they sell for 7 cents each, sometimes less than that. A 1945-D in poor condition is going to be worth around 3 cents.

[femmocrat]

4. I had a fishbowl full of wheat pennies a long time ago.

When I left home, my dad thought he was being helpful and rolled them up and took them to the bank. LOL

Wish I had them now!

[C Moon]

14. :D Great story! Sounds like a stand up comedy piece!

[trackfan]

6. Me too!

Really. About a week ago I found one among my pocket change. 1945.

[edbermac]

7. I got about a dozen.

1934 the earliest.

[The Magistrate]

8. I Have A '34 As Well, Sir

Found it a while back in amongst the change; use it for a scale indicator in photographs of very small modelling projects.

[joeybee12]

10. Not much...I have quite a few...

There's still a lot around, unfortunately.

[malthaussen]

11. Proportionately less than when it was issued.

I may exaggerate slightly, but figure five of them would buy you a bottle of coke in 1945, and I doubt you'd get that much for them now.

Or even better, a bottle of Pepsi. "Twice as much for a nickel too!"

-- Mal

[DFW]

15. Two years too late

Because copper was needed for war materiel, the USA made cents out of steel in 1943. A very few planchets of the usual bronze alloy did get struck by mistake at all the mints in 1943, but most of them were caught and remelted. They are worth in the tens of thousands even in worn condition. Many people try to fake 1943 bronze cents by copper-plating the steel ones, but they don't get far. A simple magnet will tell you if the coin is steel or not.

As for common dates of wheat cents, dealers offer them by the bag of 5000 for under $300 including shipping, or less than 6¢ apiece.