Pennies
1972 double die penny: is mine the real one?
Pick the variety you think you have: the tool says what to look for and how many coins of that issue were struck.
Known varieties: what to check
Look for
Not attracted by a magnet and about 3.1 g; a normal 1943 cent is steel, sticks to a magnet and weighs about 2.7 g.
| All 1943 cent (penny) coins struck | 684,628,670 |
| Mintage band of that issue | Very high mintage (over 200 million) |
The Mint does not count varieties apart: the figure is the whole issue they hide in. Only an authentication service can confirm one.
The 1972 doubled die is a Lincoln cent struck at Philadelphia, so it carries no mint mark, from a die that bore a doubled image. Every coin from that die shows LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and the date with two distinct, rounded outlines, offset from each other. It hides among 2,933,255,000 cents struck at Philadelphia in 1972, according to the Bureau of the Mint tables, and the Mint publishes no separate count of the variety, so any figure you read elsewhere is an estimate by collectors, not an official number. Most cents that look doubled are something else: machine doubling, a flat shelf-like shadow caused by a loose die bouncing on the coin, which is common and adds nothing. A 1972 cent with a D or an S under the date cannot be this variety. The tool at the top of this page lists what to check; only an authentication service can confirm one.
Lincoln cent after 1959: year and mint
Metal value of one 1970 coin
4.4¢
| Struck at this mint | 1,898,315,000 |
| Mintage band | Very high mintage (over 200 million) |
| Metal | Bronze cent (95% copper) |
| Mint mark on the coin | none |
At copper $6.61 per lb (last price read).
Mintages, metals and prices read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Where the doubling shows
Look at the front of the coin under a magnifier of at least five times, in a light coming from the side. On the variety, the strongest doubling appears on the letters of LIBERTY behind Lincoln’s head, on IN GOD WE TRUST above it and on the four digits of the date. Each letter shows a second, slightly offset copy of itself with its own rounded edges, as if the coin had been struck twice in slightly different places. The portrait itself shows little.
The back of the coin, with the Lincoln Memorial, is ordinary. If you see doubling only on the back, or only on one letter, you are probably looking at something else. The variety tool at the top of this page shows the same checklist for the 1972 cent and for the other known varieties, with the number struck in each host issue.
Rounded, raised and separate: those three words describe a doubled die. Flat, stepped and shadow-like describe machine doubling. Damage, such as a scratch beside a letter, shows neither pattern and is the most common false alarm of all.
Why the Mint cannot tell you how many exist
The Mint counts coins by mint and year, not by die. The Bureau of the Mint tables give one figure for Philadelphia cents in 1972 and one for Denver, and no publication of the Mint separates the coins of a faulty die from the rest. Any number of known pieces you see quoted comes from collectors and authentication services counting what has been submitted to them. This site does not repeat such estimates as fact.
| Mint | Mark | Cents struck in 1972 |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | none | 2,933,255,000 |
| Denver | D | 2,665,071,400 |
| San Francisco | S | 383,467,771 |
What the table does tell you is the scale of the search: billions of 1972 cents without a mint mark were made, so even a variety of several thousand pieces would be a tiny share of them. Most people who check a jar of 1972 cents find none, and that is the expected result.
Imitations and altered coins
Because the variety is well known, coins with doubling added or exaggerated after striking also circulate. Warning signs are a date or letters that look smeared or tooled, doubling that appears on the whole coin evenly, a surface that looks cast, grainy or soft, and an unusual weight. A genuine 1972 cent weighs about 3.11 grams like any bronze cent; a cast copy is often lighter or heavier.
If your coin passes your own checks, an authentication service is the next step, and the grading guide explains what it will judge. Do not clean the coin first: cleaning damages the surface and the edges of the doubling, which is exactly what the expert needs to see.
The rest of the 1972 cents
An ordinary 1972 cent is a copper Lincoln Memorial cent from a year in which Philadelphia alone struck billions, and the small tool below shows its number struck and metal for any year from 1959 on. It holds about 4.4¢ of copper alloy, and the rules in 31 CFR Part 82 forbid melting it. For the other doubled dies and press errors, see the error coins guide; for the cents that are scarce by number struck, the rare pennies ranking.