Coin collection is big business for those who know what to look for. @huntcoinswithme recently posted a video on TikTok about a specific Lincoln Wheat Penny that was sold at auction in 2023, encouraging people to search their pockets for rare coins that are worth far more than their face value.
“Guys, you’re not checking your pocket change yet?” @huntcoinswithme said in his video from Jan. 21, 2025, before sharing his screen of the Heritage Auctions website. While he says in the video that the penny was just sold, it has been over two years since it was auctioned off for $240,000. People on TikTok started tearing through their change jars and pockets, looking for the extremely rare pennies.
One person said they found a 1943 penny, but as the coin-hunting TikToker explained, the rare ones have a specific metal composition. The easy way to test if you have the high price tag penny is by touching it with a magnet—if it sticks, it’s the zinc-coated steel pennies that were minted in the hundreds of thousands and not the rare copper pennies of the same year.
The penny in question is labeled as a 1943 1C Struck on a Bronze Planchet, and it sold on the Heritage Auctions website on Jan. 12, 2023. The coin came from Signature Sale and the AU 50 in its name is its grade, which according to their YouTube video about the sale, is graded by the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS).
According to Al.com, “a 1943-D Lincoln Bronze Wheat Penny sold for $1.7 million in 2010 but is valued at $2.3 million in uncirculated mint condition.”
@huntcoinswithme 1943 Lincoln Wheat Penny struck on a bronze planchet. AU 50. $240,000.00. #coin #coins #penny #pennies #cent #coinpusher #coincollecting #coincollection #coincollector #money #moneytok #greenscreenvideo ♬ original sound – huntcoinswithme
Heritage Auctions shared the history of this rare coin in their YouTube video, explaining “because of its use in shell casings, copper wire, and the other wartime necessities, copper was a strategic resource in 1943.”
“To aid in the war effort, the United States Mint switched to using zinc-coated steel planchets for Lincoln cent production that year, instead of the traditional bronze coin blanks. As fate would have it, some bronze planchets remained stuck in the lids of the tote bins used to feed the coin presses at the end of the year in 1942.”
“When the bins were refilled with the new zinc-coated steel planchets to resume coinage operations in 1943, the bronze planchets worked free and were fed into the presses along with the steely planchets. As a result, the famous wartime ‘wrong’ planchet copper cent errors of 1943 were struck and escaped into circulation.”
“The phenomenon occurred at all three active mints in 1943, with about 20 examples of the Philadelphia striking known today, accompanied by six examples from the San Francisco facility and a single Denver mint specimen. These rare wrong planchet errors began to surface in circulation in the late 1940s, confounding mint officials and becoming widely celebrated rarities for collectors.”
While these very rare pennies aren’t likely to be lying around in just anyone’s change drawer, it still can be a good idea to look around every now and again, because there is always a chance that you can luck out and find something worth a pretty penny.
@huntcoinswithme did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via TikTok direct message or comment.
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