Penny · 2009
2009 Penny Value
A 2009 penny is worth $0.01 to $0.58 in circulated condition, depending on its mint mark and wear.
Prices updated:
About the 2009 penny
The 2009 cent is a regular circulation issue, struck in copper plated zinc, weighing 2.5 g, 19.05 mm across, from a design by Victor David Brenner. It was struck at Denver, Philadelphia — 2,354,000,000 coins in all, which is why an ordinary example is worth close to face value however well it has been kept.
For scale, 2009 mintage was 81% higher than in 2025 (1,300,400,000 that year) — enough to compare, not enough to change how the coin is valued today.
Philadelphia made the fewest at 1,106,000,000, against 1,248,000,000 from Denver. The mints are within the same order of magnitude, so on this date the mint mark does far less to the price than condition does.
The spread on this date is almost entirely about condition. A worn example is $0.01; the same coin certified MS68RD carries a guide value of $5,000, and PCGS has graded 1 that high. Everything between those two numbers is a question of how the coin was handled in its first weeks.
Legends on this design — obverse: “IN GOD WE TRUST · LIBERTY”. Reverse: “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA · E PLURIBUS UNUM · ONE CENT”.
Population figures put that in perspective. Across the grades listed here PCGS has certified 20,961 examples of this date, and only 1 of them reached MS68RD. A coin that spent years in a till will not be among them; one pulled from a roll and never touched might be. That gap is the whole reason two coins with the same date sell for very different money.
Value chart by grade
| Design | Mint mark | Mintage | G | VG | F | VF | XF | AU | UNC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formative Years | No mint mark | 376,000,000376M | $0.13 | $0.16 | $0.17 | $0.23 | $0.39 | $0.46 | $0.53 |
| Formative Years | D | 363,600,000363.6M | $0.06 | $0.19 | $0.19 | $0.19 | $0.39 | $0.39 | $0.44 |
| Birth and Early Childhood | D | 350,400,000350.4M | $0.01 | $0.15 | $0.17 | $0.31 | $0.39 | $0.45 | $0.45 |
| Professional Life | D | 336,000,000336M | $0.01 | $0.26 | $0.26 | $0.27 | $0.40 | $0.42 | $0.42 |
| Professional Life | No mint mark | 316,000,000316M | $0.01 | $0.09 | $0.23 | $0.25 | $0.41 | $0.46 | $0.55 |
| Birth and Early Childhood | No mint mark | 284,400,000284.4M | $0.10 | $0.20 | $0.25 | $0.35 | $0.35 | $0.44 | $0.58 |
| Presidency | D | 198,000,000198M | $0.01 | $0.20 | $0.34 | $0.34 | $0.38 | $0.49 | $0.51 |
| Presidency | No mint mark | 129,600,000129.6M | $0.09 | $0.20 | $0.29 | $0.29 | $0.42 | $0.44 | $0.53 |
What the grades mean
Grades run G to UNC, then MS60–MS70, where most value sits. How coin grading works →
Uncirculated values (MS grades)
Most value lives above UNC — population shows the rarity.
Mint mark D PCGS #407243
| Grade | Value | Graded in this grade | Finer |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS63RD | $7 | 28 | 9,388 |
| MS65RD | $12 | 4,703 | 4,581 |
| MS66RD | $20 | 4,482 | 97 |
| MS67RD | $160 | 95 | 1 |
Common in circulation, rare in top grade: PCGS has graded only 95 examples in MS67RD — that's why the price jumps from $20 to $160.
No mint mark PCGS #407237
| Grade | Value | Graded in this grade | Finer |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS63RD | $7 | 39 | 11,766 |
| MS65RD | $12 | 7,309 | 4,316 |
| MS66RD | $20 | 4,241 | 71 |
| MS67RD | $250 | 63 | 3 |
| MS68RD | $5,000 | 1 | 0 |
Common in circulation, rare in top grade: PCGS has graded only 63 examples in MS67RD — that's why the price jumps from $20 to $250.
PCGS Price Guide values for certified (slabbed) coins. Population — how many PCGS has graded.What BN, RB and RD mean
Copper darkens with age, and graders record how much original colour survives: BN fully toned, RB part-original, RD still mint-red and much the hardest to find. The difference moves the price as much as the grade does. More on grading →
How to identify your 2009 penny
What if it has already been cleaned?
Still identifies the same — you lose the premium. Don't try to fix it.
Where is the mint mark
It sits on the obverse, just below the date. No letter means Philadelphia — normal, not rare. What the letter means →
What to do with your 2009 penny
Don't clean it
Leave the surface alone — see the warning above.
Is it worth grading?
Grading costs roughly $50–100 per coin. For this coin it can pay off in high grades — MS67RD examples are valued at $160, and the top of the scale runs to $5,000. Grading is worth considering only if the coin has no wear and full original lustre.
Where to sell
Dealer: fastest, pays least. Auction: best for coins worth $100+. eBay: most buyers, most fees.
Specifications
1 Cent "Lincoln Cent" (Birth and Early Childhood)
- Composition
- Copper plated zinc
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 19.05 mm
- Thickness
- 1.55 mm
- Edge
- Plain
- Designer
- Victor David Brenner
- Mints
- United States Mint of Philadelphia, United States Mint of Denver
1 Cent "Lincoln Cent" (Formative Years)
- Composition
- Copper plated zinc
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 19.05 mm
- Thickness
- 1.55 mm
- Edge
- Plain
- Designer
- Victor David Brenner
- Mints
- United States Mint of Philadelphia, United States Mint of Denver
1 Cent "Lincoln Cent" (Professional Life)
- Composition
- Copper plated zinc
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 19.05 mm
- Thickness
- 1.55 mm
- Edge
- Plain
- Designer
- Victor David Brenner
- Mints
- United States Mint of Philadelphia, United States Mint of Denver
1 Cent "Lincoln Cent" (Presidency)
- Composition
- Copper plated zinc
- Weight
- 2.5 g
- Diameter
- 19.05 mm
- Thickness
- 1.55 mm
- Edge
- Plain
- Designer
- Victor David Brenner
- Mints
- United States Mint of Philadelphia, United States Mint of Denver
FAQ
How much is a 2009 penny worth?
A circulated 2009 penny is worth $0.01 to $0.58 depending on condition and mint mark. In top uncirculated grades it goes much higher — the PCGS guide reaches $5,000 in MS68RD.
How many 2009 pennies were made?
About 2,354,000,000 in total spread across 4 designs — Denver 1,248,000,000, Philadelphia 1,106,000,000. That is a large mintage, which is why circulated examples stay inexpensive.
How many different 2009 pennies are there?
4 designs were issued in 2009: Birth and Early Childhood, Formative Years, Presidency, Professional Life. Each was struck at Philadelphia and Denver, so a complete set of circulation coins is 8 pieces.
Where is the mint mark on a 2009 penny?
See “Where is the mint mark” above.
Are there rare 2009 penny varieties?
No major varieties are catalogued for this date. That does not rule out minting errors on individual coins — off-centre strikes, clipped planchets and doubled dies turn up in any year — but there is no known variety that makes the date itself scarce. With 2,354,000,000 struck, a variety would need to be genuinely rare to stand out from a run this size.
Should I get my 2009 penny graded?
Grading costs roughly $50–100 per coin. For this date it can pay off at the very top of the scale, where the guide reaches $5,000, but only for a coin with no wear and full lustre.
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