Are VDB pennies considered scarce? Hard to find? Rare? I remember a metal detectorist friend bragging that he had found one. I didn’t even know what it was but I was properly impressed. Well I put a magnifying app on my iPad and grabbed a bag of wheat pennies that I’ve had. I’m guessing there may be 400-500 wheats in it. After a few minutes I spied a 1909 and flipped it over and saw the 3 initials. Told the wife I may have found a good coin. Then I found another. And another. And another. In less than an hour I had 8 1909 VDBs lined up in front of me. Did I hit an actual honey hole or does everybody find a handful? I read 484,000 were minted. Is that accurate? And finally, what would an approximate average value for these possibly be?
1909 S VDB had a mintage of 484,000. The 1909 P VDBs are far more common- almost 28,000,000 were produced. But, those coins are worth a bit (around $5/$6) because people need them for an album, or just find the first issue interesting.
If you find an 09 VDB when the dot between the D and B is exactly half way between the letters you could have a matte proof and that is big $ as well depending on condition. Yours all appear to have the dot closer to the D than the B though.
I knew it was too good to be true. After reading your comments I was puzzled so I went back and reread everything I had previously. 4 different articles and no mention of an S mintmark. Just VDB. Even my very serious collector friend said nothing about the mintmark. Found a few more articles and the same. THEN I found another that did discuss the S mint mark. And none of these have one. I’ll send the Mercedes back to the dealer tomorrow....
Still, those VDBs you have are in pretty amazing shape. Did you just make those? What do you think guys, ,,, any sign of circulation on these 09s? Maybe 1 or 2 look like they've seen some time. But IMHO those look like they have been pretty well protected for the last 110 years. Get used to that feeling Chip, as these coins will replay that feeling of dashed hopes when you do all your checks and steps to authenticate your finds. It builds character and make us try even harder to zone in on that next find. It's either that, or I'm just TOO dumb to quit!!!!
The VDB is still worth more than the 1909 without the VDB. Please show the obverse of the coin as well.
I agree with the fine-very fine range from the photos. Only the DDO(s) of that year/mint are worth a lot more. Jim
