Some Pennies Are Worth Way More Than One Cent. Here's How to Spot Them

Not everyone heeds the old saying "find a penny, pick it up," but anyone who isn't doing it might want to start. That's because a bunch of pennies are worth much more than one cent.

A tiny error on some 2023 pennies has them selling for up to 60,000 times their face value, according to the Instagram account CoinHubs.

On all pennies, by the base of Abraham Lincoln, you can see the initials of the coin's designer, VDB, but on some of the new coins, next to the "VDB" is an extra V. That error is what has people paying upwards of $600 for the coins.

You'll definitely want to be on the lookout for the pennies with the extra initial, but those aren't the only ones to keep an eye out for. Pretty much all pennies from before 1982 are worth more than one cent, and many others are worth thousands of dollars, while some are worth way, way more. Recently, a penny with some doubling in the letters went for a record $1,136,250.

It's not just pennies either, quarters, dimes, nickels and all other coins could be worth far more than face value. So what should you do if you wind up with one?

You can head to a pawn shop where they might give you something for it, though it almost certainly won't be what the coin is actually worth. You might be better off trying eBay, or finding a Facebook group for coin collectors and attempting to sell it there.