1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 157,088,000 made
- Mintage
- 157,088,000
- 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 1926 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 1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent rare?
- Not by date: 157 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent?
- On the obverse, directly below the date. Philadelphia cents have no mint mark.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1926 are scarcer?
- The 1931 at 19,396,000, the 1921 at 39,157,000, the 1923 at 74,723,000, plus 4 more. So the 1926 is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent coins were made?
- 157,088,000.
What to check on your 1926
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- 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 1926
Philadelphia made 157,088,000 in 1926, up from 140 million in 1925. In 1927 the figure was 144 million.
It was the big producer of the year, well ahead of 1926-S (4.5 million) and 1926-D (28 million).
Across Philadelphia's 50 Lincoln Wheat Cent issues, the hardest to find is the 1932 with 9,062,000 made. The 1926 is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1920s it's 24th smallest of 26, between the 1927 (144 million) and the 1929 (185 million).
Initials return and the 1922 plain (1918 to 1929)
In 1918 Brenner's initials returned, this time tiny on the truncation of Lincoln's shoulder, where they stayed for the rest of the series. Production stayed high after the war, but a recession cut 1921 output. In 1922 only Denver struck cents. Worn and filled dies at Denver produced coins with no visible mint mark, the 1922 Plain. Only one die pair shows a strong reverse and no trace of the D. That is the variety collectors want.
Branch mint cents of the 1920s are known for soft strikes. The 1924-D, 1926-S and other San Francisco and Denver dates often show weak hair detail and mushy wheat lines. The 1926-S is notoriously hard to find with red color. Most dates from this era survive in circulated grades with brown surfaces. Fully struck, red examples from the branch mints are much harder to find than Philadelphia coins.
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 | 1926 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 157,088,000 |
| 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 1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent | 157,088,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1926-D Lincoln Wheat Cent | 28,020,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1926-S Lincoln Wheat Cent | 4,550,000 | 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.