Coin reference › Lincoln cents 1909-present: keys, semi-keys and honorable mentions
Lincoln cents 1909-present: keys, semi-keys and honorable mentions
The difficulty
The problem with semi-keys is that they look exactly like the common dates beside them. A 1931-S and a 1931 are the same coin but for one letter, and that letter is usually worn, dirty, or lit from the wrong angle.
| Coin | Year | Mintage | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1909 P VDB | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1909 | 27,995,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1909 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1909 | 1,825,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1909 S VDB | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1909 | 484,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1910 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1910 | 6,045,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1911 D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1911 | 12,672,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1911 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1911 | 4,026,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1912 D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1912 | 10,411,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1912 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1912 | 4,431,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1913 D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1913 | 15,804,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1913 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1913 | 6,101,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1914 D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1914 | 1,193,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1914 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1914 | 4,137,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1915 D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1915 | 22,050,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1915 P | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1915 | 29,092,120 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1915 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1915 | 4,833,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1916 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1916 | 22,510,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1917 P Doubled Die Obverse | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1917 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1922 D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1922 | 7,160,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1922 No D - Strong Reverse (die pair II) | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1922 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1922 D Weak D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1922 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1923 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1923 | 8,700,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1924 D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1924 | 2,520,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1926 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1926 | 4,550,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1931 D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1931 | 4,480,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1931 S | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1931 | 866,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1943 D Bronze/Copper | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1943 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1943 P Bronze/Copper | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1943 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1943 S Bronze/Copper | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1943 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1944 D Steel Cent | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1944 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1944 P Steel Cent | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1944 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1944 S Steel Cent | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1944 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1955 P Doubled-Die Obverse | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1955 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1956 D D Above Shadow D | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1956 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1958 P Doubled-Die Obverse | Lincoln Wheat cent | 1958 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1970 S Doubled Die Obverse | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1970 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1970 S Small Date - High 7 | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1970 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1971 S Doubled Die Obverse | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1971 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1972 P Doubled Die Obverse | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1972 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1981 S Type 2 - Clear S | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1981 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1983 P Doubled Die Reverse | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1983 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1984 P Doubled Die Ear | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1984 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1990 S No S Mint Mark | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1990 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1991 S | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1991 | 2,867,787 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1992 D Close AM | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1992 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1992 P Close AM | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1992 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1997 S | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1997 | 2,796,678 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1998 S Close AM | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1998 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1999 P Wide AM | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 1999 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 2009 D Birth and Early Childhood Kentucky - Satin Finish | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 2009 | 784,614 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 2009 D Formative Years Indiana - Satin Finish | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 2009 | 784,614 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 2009 D Presidency - Satin Finish | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 2009 | 784,614 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 2009 D Professional Life Illinois - Satin Finish | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 2009 | 784,614 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 2009 P Birth and Early Childhood Kentucky - Satin Finish | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 2009 | 784,614 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 2009 P Formative Years Indiana - Satin Finish | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 2009 | 784,614 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 2009 P Presidency - Satin Finish | Lincoln Memorial / Bicentennial cent | 2009 | 784,614 | Date / mint / design issue |
The bench lights a mint mark from a direction you choose and holds the same settings across a whole session, so twenty cents photographed in one sitting are genuinely comparable. Every photograph carries the settings that produced it, so the twenty-first can be shot the same way next week.
Keys are the dates everybody knows. Semi-keys are where a search actually pays, because they are scarce without being famous, and they turn up in change and in rolls long after the keys have been picked out. This is both tiers for the Lincoln cent, with the honourable mentions that are worth keeping when you find them.
What to look for
The branch-mint issues of the 'teens and 'twenties, the 1931-S, the 1955 and 1972 doubled dies, and the transitional metal years. A worn cent with a weak mint mark is worth a second look before it goes back in the jar.
Photographing these
Photograph the mint mark straight on rather than at an angle - a punched letter that is doubled reads as a shadow when the camera is tilted, and a shadow is what a hopeful eye sees anyway.
NumismaLab turns any USB microscope into a measuring bench for exactly this kind of work.
Put this list under a microscopeMore lists
Compiled 2026-09-15. Mintages and designations are matters of record; which coins are worth a second look is an editorial judgement, and this page says so rather than pretending otherwise.
