1959 Penny Value:No Mint Mark, 1959-D and the Memorial Design

How much is a 1959 penny worth?

The first Lincoln Memorial cent

Why the reverse changed in 1959

The Lincoln Memorial design marked the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the 50th year of the Lincoln cent. Released on February 12, 1959, it replaced the wheat-ear reverse while retaining Victor D. Brenner’s Lincoln portrait. Frank Gasparro designed the new reverse.

The small seated statue visible between the Memorial’s central columns is intentional. Together with Lincoln’s portrait on the front, it makes the president appear on both sides of the coin. Gasparro’s FG initials are designer initials, not a mint mark. The lower-case letter in the inscription “oF” is also a design feature rather than a spelling error.

The Memorial reverse continued through 2008, followed by the four 2009 Lincoln life-stage designs. If your coin has wheat ears, identify its date carefully rather than assuming it is a standard 1959 reverse.

A later Memorial cent can raise a different question: the 1975 gold-colored penny guide distinguishes ordinary copper, altered surfaces and unverified composition claims.

No mint mark, D, color and Proofs

On an ordinary 1959 cent, look below the date on the portrait side. A clear D identifies Denver; no letter identifies Philadelphia. Neither is an error by itself. A weakly visible D may be obscured by dirt, wear or the photograph, so examine it before deciding the letter is missing.

Red is a preservation category

RD means Red, RB Red Brown and BN Brown. These color designations describe remaining original copper color under a grading service’s criteria. A bright cleaned cent is not automatically a Red example. Compare the same color designation as well as the numerical grade.

Philadelphia also produced Proof cents for collectors. They have no S mint mark in 1959. Mirrorlike surfaces alone do not turn a polished circulation coin into a Proof; manufacturing characteristics and provenance matter. The regular-strike chart below does not price Proofs.

Be precise about 1959-D varieties

A repunched mint mark is a specific die feature, not any doubling beside a D. Match the location and shape to a cataloged attribution. Mechanical doubling, shadows and damage can imitate parts of the appearance.

The reported 1959-D wheat-reverse mule has a disputed history. Do not use its publicity or a claimed sale to value an ordinary Memorial cent. A mule means a pairing of dies not intended for that normal issue. A proposed discovery needs specialist authentication; it is not established by a blurry reverse or a seller’s label.

1959 and 1959-D penny value by grade

The Mint State rows are retail guide estimates for the stated grade and Red color, not typical prices for coins from a jar. The jump to MS67 reflects a much narrower preservation category. It does not imply that every shiny penny is worth hundreds of dollars, or that certification will pay for itself.

A worn brown coin cannot be priced from an RD row. A coin with altered color or abrasive cleaning may not qualify for a problem-free grade at all. Compare actual sold examples with similar surfaces and account for transaction costs before buying a holder or paying for grading.

Nominal copper content helps describe the coin, but it should not be confused with a guaranteed realizable scrap value. For an ordinary piece, the practical decision is usually whether it fills a date-and-mint space in a collection. For a superb original example or plausible attributed variety, careful photographs and expert review are more useful than guessing from a record sale.

Use the coin grading scale for condition terms and the cleaned-coin guide for surface warning signs. Keep detailed grading advice there rather than treating every first-year penny as a special case.

What to remember about the first Memorial penny

Frequently asked questions

References