1917-S Lincoln Wheat Cent
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 32,620,000 made
- Mintage
- 32,620,000
- Metal
- 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc
- Weight
- 3.11 g
- Diameter
- 19.05 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1917-S Lincoln Wheat Cent worth?
Even worn Wheat cents usually sell for a little more than face, because so many people collect them by date. Bright uncirculated coins with red color bring more.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- Full red copper color (labeled RD) rather than brown
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1917-S Lincoln Wheat Cent rare?
- Not by date: 33 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1917 Lincoln Wheat Cent?
- On the obverse, directly below the date. Philadelphia cents have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1917 are scarcer?
- The 1914-S at 4,137,000, the 1912-S at 4,431,000, the 1915-S at 4,833,000, plus 3 more. So the 1917-S is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1917-S Lincoln Wheat Cent coins were made?
- 32,620,000.
What to check on your 1917-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1917-D (55 million made).
- Judge the grade under good light. Check the parallel lines in the wheat stalks, Lincoln's cheek and jaw, plus the hair above the ear. Uncirculated cents are also graded by color (RD, RB, BN) and full red coins are worth multiples of brown ones.
The story of the 1917-S
San Francisco made 32,620,000 in 1917, up from 23 million in 1916. In 1918 the figure was 35 million.
The other mints made far more that year: 1917 alone came to 196 million, roughly 6 for every 1917-S. That makes the 1917-S the scarcer 1917 coin, though still a common one.
Across San Francisco's 44 Lincoln Wheat Cent issues, the hardest to find is the 1909-S VDB with 484,000 made. The 1917-S is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1910s it's 14th smallest of 29, between the 1915 (29 million) and the 1918-S (35 million).
VDB, new branch mints and wartime demand (1909 to 1917)
Victor David Brenner's Lincoln cent was released on August 2, 1909, the centennial year of Lincoln's birth. Within days the Mint removed his initials, VDB, from the reverse after complaints that they were too prominent. San Francisco struck only 484,000 cents with the initials, creating the 1909-S VDB, the most famous key in the series. The 1909-S without initials is also scarce at 1.8 million.
Denver began striking cents in 1911. The 1914-D, with 1.2 million made, is another key and is often counterfeited by altering the date or adding a mint mark. Matte proofs were made from 1909 to 1916. Demand rose sharply with World War I. Output in 1917 passed 196 million in Philadelphia, a year that also includes a doubled die obverse. Survivors from this era are usually brown and worn, with full red coins scarce for the branch mints.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1917
The Standing Liberty quarter was redesigned to cover Liberty with chain mail. The mint mark on the Walking Liberty half dollar moved from the obverse to the reverse.
How to recognize it
Abraham Lincoln faces right with IN GOD WE TRUST above, LIBERTY to the left and the date to the right. The mint mark, when there is one, sits below the date. The reverse has two ears of wheat framing ONE CENT and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, with E PLURIBUS UNUM across the top. The designer's initials V.D.B. appear on the reverse of some 1909 coins and on Lincoln's shoulder from 1918.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Lincoln Wheat Cent (1909–1958) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 32,620,000 |
| Face value | 1¢ |
| Composition | 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc (bronze) |
| Weight | 3.11 grams |
| Diameter | 19.05 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Victor David Brenner |
Other 1917 Lincoln Wheat Cent issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1917 Lincoln Wheat Cent | 196,429,785 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1917 Lincoln Wheat Cent Proof (Struck illegally, 1 known to exist) | – | Variety | – |
| 1917-D Lincoln Wheat Cent | 55,120,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1917-S Lincoln Wheat Cent | 32,620,000 | Circulation strike | – |
Mintage: Lincoln cent mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.