1909 VDB found in circulation!!!!

[DC_Penny_Guy]

And it's actually in rather nice condition! It was in a machine-wrapped roll of pennies, purchased from a Washington, DC bank. Not the rarest penny we've found (it's me and my two sons, ages 8 and 10, searching the penny boxes I schlep home), but definitely the coolest Lincoln cent. Only IHPs get us as excited as this find did.

Anyone want to proffer an opinion on what grade this is in? I know it's almost certainly not worth more than $10 to $20 bucks, but it's so darned exciting!

VDB Penny - Reverse.jpg (563.32 KiB) Viewed 963 times

VDB Penny - Obverse.jpg (414.02 KiB) Viewed 963 times

[NDFarmer]

Congratulations on the great find!! Too bad it didn't have an S on it. That would have really been something!!

[DC_Penny_Guy]

If it had an "S" on it, it'd be on its way to PCGS right now (lots of fake 1909-S VDBs flying around), and on eBay shortly thereafter!

[Doctor Steuss]

What an incredible start to the year. Congratulations!

[TXSTARFIRE]

Sweet Find! Coingratulations!

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

Congrats. Last time I found a 1909 in the wild was about 40 years ago. I oldest ones I've found in my recent copper hoard purchase were: 1913, 1914, 1916S, 1917, 1918, 1919p/s (lots!) and early/mid 20's.

[Recyclersteve]

Thanks for sharing this with the RealCent community! The money won’t change your lifestyle, but the experience is definitely memorable!

[DC_Penny_Guy]

Congrats. Last time I found a 1909 in the wild was about 40 years ago. I oldest ones I've found in my recent copper hoard purchase were: 1913, 1914, 1916S, 1917, 1918, 1919p/s (lots!) and early/mid 20's.

Interesting... We seem to find old copper pretty regularly. We've had 8 or so indian head pennies in the past 6 months, ranging from 1888 to 1904. Who knows why...

It's been probably 10 boxes or so since our last addition to the Lincoln Cent album, unfortunately. And it's not like we're anywhere remotely close to completing it. We barely have anything with a mint mark prior to 1937. But being so close to the Philadelphia mint, we have almost every single Philly Lincoln cent. Just missing 1909 (weirdly only found the VDB), 1912, 1913, 1914.

[Recyclersteve]

In terms of grade, I'd guesstimate the back side is VF by looking at the wheat stalks. The photo of the front doesn't show separation of the cheek and jaw bones, so I'd say the front is Fine.