$100K Coin? Lincoln Pennies With Dime Reverse Sides Can Fetch Big Bucks
There used to be a saying — 'pennies make dimes and dimes make dollars' — that stressed the importance of saving your money (the phrase later showed up in a country song). Today, some Lincoln pennies can make you thousands of dollars on their own, and the reason, ironically, is that they were mistakenly produced with dime reverses.
Up Next:
For You:
The penny in question is called the 2001-D Lincoln cent mule error coin. It is so rare that it has twice sold at auction for more than $100,000. The penny was struck at the Denver Mint in 2001 and features the usual portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the front or obverse. What it doesn't have is the normal Lincoln Memorial on the reverse. Instead, it mistakenly has a Roosevelt dime reverse.
As with many error coins, there are questions about whether the Lincoln cent mule error coin was an intentional mistake. As CoinWeek noted, several curious errors have escaped the U.S. Mint over the years. These include modern proof coins struck over obsolete coins, coins with missing edge inscriptions and coins struck on everyday objects, such as an undated dime struck on a nail, as reported by the Chicago Tribune in 2015.
'The 2001-D Lincoln cent mule falls in the category of Mint errors that conceivably could have been produced by mistake and released unnoticed into circulation,' CoinWeek reported. Either way, these error coins are highly prized by collectors and often command fabulously high prices.
Explore More:
One of the few 2001-D Lincoln cent mule coins sold at auction through Heritage Auctions last year for six figures. It's the fourth such coin to sell at auction. Heritage Auctions also sold the other three at high prices, according to CoinWeek:
PCGS MS66RD: sold for $114,000 on June 17, 2021
PCGS MS65RD: sold for $78,000 on Feb. 24, 2022
PCGS MS65RD: sold for $66,000 on Aug. 24, 2022
PCGS MS66RD: sold for $114,000 on Jan. 11, 2024
Before you go shuffling through your jar of pennies, you should know that CoinWeek called Lincoln cent mules 'spectacularly rare.' When you include the four mentioned above, the total might not reach double figures. Because they're so hard to find, even those in poor condition can fetch up to $20,000.
More From GOBankingRates
Mark Cuban Says Trump's Executive Order To Lower Medication Costs Has a 'Real Shot' -- Here's Why
3 Reasons Retired Boomers Shouldn't Give Their Kids a Living Inheritance (And 2 Reasons They Should)
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: $100K Coin? Lincoln Pennies With Dime Reverse Sides Can Fetch Big Bucks
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
When is Juneteenth observed in 2025? Is there mail delivery? All about the federal holiday
America's Second Independence Day is coming soon. Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It's the longest-running African American holiday, and it became a federal holiday a few years ago. Here's what to know about the holiday. Juneteenth will be marked on Thursday, June 19, 2025. Unlike other federal holidays, such as Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving, that are observed on a specific day of the week, Juneteenth is celebrated on the actual day. Juneteenth commemorates the day — June 19, 1865 — when federal soldiers arrived in Galveston to take control of Texas and ensure the slaves were freed per the Emancipation Proclamation, according to the History Channel. Juneteenth — short for June nineteenth — marks the end of slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. But its effect was limited, according to the National Archives. It only applied to states that seceded during the Civil War, leaving slavery intact for slave states that stayed with the Union. It also could not be enforced until Confederate states were under Union control, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Therefore, it took until June 19, 1865, for slaves in Texas to be freed. Slavery in America was formally abolished with the 13th Amendment, which was ratified Dec. 6, 1865. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021. President Joe Biden signed legislation on June 17, 2021, according to USA TODAY, after Congress passed The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act that same month. Juneteenth began rising to prominence in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, sparked protests across the country against police brutality, USA TODAY reports. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., first introduced the Juneteenth bill in 2020 following the killings of Floyd and Breonna Taylor of Louisville, Kentucky. His initial attempt to pass the bill was unsuccessful. No. As a federal holiday, the U.S. Postal Service is closed that day, and there will be no mail delivered. FedEx pickup and delivery services will be available on June 19, according to the company's website. FedEx Office locations will also be open, USA TODAY is reporting. Juneteenth is a Federal Reserve bank holiday, meaning the organization that regulates the nation's banking system is closed, according to Banks aren't required to close for Federal Reserve holidays, but they often do. Transactions made during these holidays won't be posted until the next business day. Branches of Capital One, Bank of America, PNC, Truist, CitiBank and JPMorgan Chase will be closed on Juneteenth, USA TODAY is reporting. Capital One Cafes will remain open. The New York Stock Exchange is closed on federal holidays and will be closed on Juneteenth, according to its website. Trash pickup may be delayed because of Juneteenth, depending on the hauler. Contact your municipality or private provider to learn more. This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: When is Juneteenth 2025 observed? Will banks be open? What to know
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
A Virginia museum found 4 Confederate soldiers' remains. It's trying to identify them
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — Archaeologists in Virginia were excavating the grounds of a building that stored gunpowder during the American Revolution when they uncovered the eye sockets of a human skull. The team carefully unearthed four skeletons, including one with a bullet in the spine, and three amputated legs. They quickly surmised the bones were actually from the Civil War, when a makeshift hospital operated nearby and treated gravely wounded Confederate soldiers. The archaeologists work at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a museum that owns the land and focuses on the city's 18th century history. They're now trying to identify human remains from the 19th century, a rare endeavor that will include searching for living descendants and requesting swabs of DNA. The museum has recovered enough genetic material from the men's teeth for possible matches. But the prospect of identifying them emerged only after the team located handwritten lists in an archive that name the soldiers in that hospital. 'It is the key,' said Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg's executive director of archaeology. 'If these men were found in a mass grave on a battlefield, and there was no other information, we probably wouldn't be trying to do this.' The archaeologists have narrowed the possible identities to four men who served in regiments from Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Virginia. The museum is withholding the names as the work continues. Meanwhile, the remains were reinterred Tuesday at a Williamsburg cemetery where Confederate soldiers from the same battle are buried. 'Everyone deserves dignity in death,' Gary said. 'And being stored in a drawer inside a laboratory does not do that.' 'Shockingly costly for both sides' The soldiers fought in the Battle of Williamsburg, a bloody engagement on May 5, 1862. The fighting was part of the Peninsula Campaign, a major Union offensive that tried to end the war quickly. The campaign's failure that summer, stalling outside the Confederate capital of Richmond, informed President Abraham Lincoln's decision to end slavery. In his first inaugural address, Lincoln said he intended to reunite the nation with slavery intact in the Southern states, while halting its westward expansion, said Timothy Orr, a military historian and professor at Old Dominion University. But Lincoln realized after the campaign that he needed a more radical approach, Orr said. And while the president faced political pressure for emancipation, freeing people who were enslaved served as 'another weapon to defeat the Confederacy.' 'He becomes convinced that slavery is feeding the Confederate war effort,' Orr said. 'It had to be taken away.' Bigger and bloodier battles followed Williamsburg, Orr said, but it was 'shockingly costly for both sides." Roughly 14,600 Union soldiers fought about 12,500 Confederates, Carol Kettenburg Dubbs wrote in her 2002 book, 'Defend This Old Town.' The number of Union killed, wounded, captured or missing was 2,283. The Confederate figure was 1,870. The fighting moved north, while a Union brigade occupied the southern city. Confederate soldiers too wounded for travel were placed in homes and a church, which was converted into a hospital. A surgeon from New York treated them, while local women visited the church, Dubbs wrote. One woman noted in her diary on May 26 that there were 'only 18 out of 61 left.' Their arms were crossed When the remains were discovered in 2023, they were aligned east-west in the Christian tradition, said Gary, the archaeologist. Their arms were crossed. The careful burial indicates they were not dumped into a mass grave, Gary said. Those who died in the battle were almost immediately placed in trenches and later reinterred at a cemetery. The men were not in uniform, said Eric Schweickart, a staff archaeologist. Some were in more comfortable clothes, based on artifacts that included buttons and a trouser buckle. One soldier had two $5 gold coins from 1852. Another had a toothbrush made of animal bone and a snuff bottle, used for sniffing tobacco. The bullet in the soldier's spine was a Minié ball, a common round of Civil War ammunition. The foot of one amputated leg also contained a Minié ball. Bones in a second severed leg were shattered. 'We want it be ironclad' As the team researched the battle, they learned of the lists of hospitalized soldiers, said Evan Bell, an archaeological lab technician. The lists were likely copied from Union records by the women who visited the wounded. The documents were with a local family's papers at William & Mary, a university nearby. The lists became the project's Rosetta stone, providing names and regiments of more than 60 soldiers. They included dates of death and notes indicating amputations. The archaeologists eliminated soldiers on the lists who survived or lost an extremity. The four skeletons had all of their limbs. Death dates were key because three men were buried together, allowing the team to pinpoint three soldiers who died around the same time. William & Mary's Institute for Historical Biology examined the remains and estimated their ages. The youngest was between 15 and 19, the oldest between 35 and 55. The estimates helped match names to enlistment records, census data and Union prisoner of war documents. The soldiers' remains and the amputated limbs were buried in their own stainless steel boxes in a concrete vault, Gary said. If descendants are confirmed, they can move their ancestor to another burial site. The identification effort will continue for another several months at least and will include extensive genealogy work, Gary said. Using only DNA tests on remains from the 1800s can risk false positives because 'you start becoming related to everyone.' 'We want it to be ironclad,' he said.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
A Virginia museum found 4 Confederate soldiers' remains. It's trying to identify them
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — Archaeologists in Virginia were excavating the grounds of a building that stored gunpowder during the American Revolution when they uncovered the eye sockets of a human skull. The team carefully unearthed four skeletons, including one with a bullet in the spine, and three amputated legs. They quickly surmised the bones were actually from the Civil War, when a makeshift hospital operated nearby and treated gravely wounded Confederate soldiers. The archaeologists work at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a museum that owns the land and focuses on the city's 18th century history. They're now trying to identify human remains from the 19th century, a rare endeavor that will include searching for living descendants and requesting swabs of DNA. The museum has recovered enough genetic material from the men's teeth for possible matches. But the prospect of identifying them emerged only after the team located handwritten lists in an archive that name the soldiers in that hospital. 'It is the key,' said Jack Gary, Colonial Williamsburg's executive director of archaeology. 'If these men were found in a mass grave on a battlefield, and there was no other information, we probably wouldn't be trying to do this.' The archaeologists have narrowed the possible identities to four men who served in regiments from Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Virginia. The museum is withholding the names as the work continues. Meanwhile, the remains were reinterred Tuesday at a Williamsburg cemetery where Confederate soldiers from the same battle are buried. 'Everyone deserves dignity in death,' Gary said. 'And being stored in a drawer inside a laboratory does not do that.' 'Shockingly costly for both sides' The soldiers fought in the Battle of Williamsburg, a bloody engagement on May 5, 1862. The fighting was part of the Peninsula Campaign, a major Union offensive that tried to end the war quickly. The campaign's failure that summer, stalling outside the Confederate capital of Richmond, informed President Abraham Lincoln's decision to end slavery. In his first inaugural address, Lincoln said he intended to reunite the nation with slavery intact in the Southern states, while halting its westward expansion, said Timothy Orr, a military historian and professor at Old Dominion University. But Lincoln realized after the campaign that he needed a more radical approach, Orr said. And while the president faced political pressure for emancipation, freeing people who were enslaved served as 'another weapon to defeat the Confederacy.' 'He becomes convinced that slavery is feeding the Confederate war effort,' Orr said. 'It had to be taken away.' Bigger and bloodier battles followed Williamsburg, Orr said, but it was 'shockingly costly for both sides." Roughly 14,600 Union soldiers fought about 12,500 Confederates, Carol Kettenburg Dubbs wrote in her 2002 book, 'Defend This Old Town.' The number of Union killed, wounded, captured or missing was 2,283. The Confederate figure was 1,870. The fighting moved north, while a Union brigade occupied the southern city. Confederate soldiers too wounded for travel were placed in homes and a church, which was converted into a hospital. A surgeon from New York treated them, while local women visited the church, Dubbs wrote. One woman noted in her diary on May 26 that there were 'only 18 out of 61 left.' Their arms were crossed When the remains were discovered in 2023, they were aligned east-west in the Christian tradition, said Gary, the archaeologist. Their arms were crossed. The careful burial indicates they were not dumped into a mass grave, Gary said. Those who died in the battle were almost immediately placed in trenches and later reinterred at a cemetery. The men were not in uniform, said Eric Schweickart, a staff archaeologist. Some were in more comfortable clothes, based on artifacts that included buttons and a trouser buckle. One soldier had two $5 gold coins from 1852. Another had a toothbrush made of animal bone and a snuff bottle, used for sniffing tobacco. The bullet in the soldier's spine was a Minié ball, a common round of Civil War ammunition. The foot of one amputated leg also contained a Minié ball. Bones in a second severed leg were shattered. 'We want it be ironclad' As the team researched the battle, they learned of the lists of hospitalized soldiers, said Evan Bell, an archaeological lab technician. The lists were likely copied from Union records by the women who visited the wounded. The documents were with a local family's papers at William & Mary, a university nearby. The lists became the project's Rosetta stone, providing names and regiments of more than 60 soldiers. They included dates of death and notes indicating amputations. The archaeologists eliminated soldiers on the lists who survived or lost an extremity. The four skeletons had all of their limbs. Death dates were key because three men were buried together, allowing the team to pinpoint three soldiers who died around the same time. William & Mary's Institute for Historical Biology examined the remains and estimated their ages. The youngest was between 15 and 19, the oldest between 35 and 55. The estimates helped match names to enlistment records, census data and Union prisoner of war documents. The soldiers' remains and the amputated limbs were buried in their own stainless steel boxes in a concrete vault, Gary said. If descendants are confirmed, they can move their ancestor to another burial site. The identification effort will continue for another several months at least and will include extensive genealogy work, Gary said. Using only DNA tests on remains from the 1800s can risk false positives because 'you start becoming related to everyone.' 'We want it to be ironclad,' he said.
