1944-S Lincoln Wheat Cent
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 282,760,000 made
- Mintage
- 282,760,000
- Metal
- 95% copper, 5% 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 1944-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 1944-S Lincoln Wheat Cent rare?
- Not by date: 283 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1944 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 1944 are scarcer?
- The 1939-S at 52,070,000, the 1949-S at 64,290,000, the 1948-S at 81,735,000, plus 7 more. So the 1944-S is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1944-S Lincoln Wheat Cent coins were made?
- 282,760,000.
What to check on your 1944-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 1944-D (431 million made).
- A genuine 1944 cent is brass and weighs about 3.11 grams. One that sticks to a magnet and weighs about 2.7 grams could be a rare steel error, but most are plated or altered coins.
- 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.
With 282,760,000 made, you can still find a 1944-S in rolls, old jars and inherited collections. The coins worth keeping are the uncirculated ones and any with a doubled die or other variety.
The story of the 1944-S
San Francisco made 282,760,000 in 1944, up from 192 million in 1943. In 1945 the figure was 182 million.
The other mints made far more that year: 1944 alone came to 1.4 billion, roughly 5.1 for every 1944-S. That makes the 1944-S the scarcer 1944 coin, though still a common one.
Of the 44 Lincoln Wheat Cents San Francisco struck between 1909 and 1955, none was made in bigger numbers. The scarcest San Francisco issue is the 1909-S VDB at 484,000. Within the 1940s it's 20th smallest of 30, between the 1945-D (266 million) and the 1946-D (316 million).
It also marks a change of metal: 1944 is the first year of the Lincoln Wheat Cent in 95% copper, 5% zinc (brass), which lasted until 1946.
Steel cents and shell case brass (1943 to 1946)
Copper was needed for the war effort, so in 1943 the Mint struck cents on zinc coated steel. They are lighter at 2.70 grams, stick to a magnet and were often confused with dimes. The zinc coating wore quickly and the steel rusted, so most survivors are dull gray or spotted. A few bronze cents dated 1943 were struck by mistake on leftover planchets and rank among the most famous errors, though most offered are plated or altered fakes.
In 1944 the Mint returned to a copper alloy made partly from melted cartridge cases, which gives these coins a slightly different shade. A few 1944 cents were struck on steel planchets by mistake. Denver made the 1944-D/S overmintmark. The 1943-D has a repunched D variety. Production stayed very high through 1946, so common dates from these years are easy to find, often with bright red color.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1944
Cents went back to a copper alloy, partly made from recycled cartridge cases ("shell-case brass"). A few leftover steel planchets produced the rare 1944 steel cents.
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 | 1944 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 282,760,000 |
| Face value | 1¢ |
| Composition | 95% copper, 5% zinc (brass) |
| Weight | 3.11 grams |
| Diameter | 19.05 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Victor David Brenner |
Other 1944 Lincoln Wheat Cent issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 Lincoln Wheat Cent | 1,435,000,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1944 Steel Penny | – | Variety | – |
| 1944-D Lincoln Wheat Cent | 430,578,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1944-D/S Lincoln Cent | – | Variety | – |
| 1944-D Steel Penny | about 10 known | Variety | – |
| 1944-S Lincoln Wheat Cent | 282,760,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1944-S Steel Penny | – | Variety | – |
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.