Copper Composition 1943 Lincoln Cent

The headline reads: “If you still have this coin you are now rich!” Don’t you love it? This and the subsequent subheadline “The coins in your pocket could be worth thousands!” were posted to Yahoo.com on Oct. 20. The coin this come-on line is talking about is the copper composition 1943 Lincoln cent, a classic rarity about which the public dreams of receiving by accident in their pocket change.

In fact, there are both a 1943 and a 1943-S copper composition cent that will be auctioned by Heritage Auctions in the near future. Reading between the lines, these are among well-publicized rare coins that have been recently offered at auctions, many of them for the first time in years. This suggests there is confidence among their current owners that the rare coin market is sufficiently strong for these coins to be offered now, rather than later.

The scarce to rare coin portion of the market continues to appreciate in value, this being both for date and for grade rarities. The limited-edition 2020-S Proof silver American Eagles were reportedly selling at four times their issue price only two weeks after being released. Be you a collector or an investor, the rare coin market is where the action is. The balance of the market should not be ignored, but silver and gold intrinsically impacted coins continue to trade within a tight range shadowing that of their precious metal content. Right now coin collecting is in a comfortable place.