Image Courtesy of
Bowers and Merena Coin Acutions

In the past couple of years, the price of copper has increased significantly. Many popular copper coins have been blazing hot in the marketplace, with prices on the rise. From Half cents to Large cents, and Indian Head cents to Lincoln cents – not to mention the elusive Matte Proof Lincoln cent series from 1909-1916 – most copper coins have been appreciating in price dramatically.

Image Courtesy of
Bowers and Merena Coin Acutions

On February 14, 2008, Heritage Auctions sold an extremely significant collection consisting of many rare Large cents from the famous Husak collection. One of the highlights was a 1793 Large cent which sold for $632,500. A 1794 Starred Reverse Large cent also realized $632,500. By the end of the auction, this impressive collection realized over 10.7 million dollars!

Large cents were not the only ones realizing record-breaking prices. Bowers and Merena continued this trend by selling many early-date Lincoln cents in high-grade condition, with most coins having the red designation.

One coin in the Bowers and Merena auction was a 1913P graded PCGS MS67 Red with a population of four with none finer, which realized $47,150. A 1918S in MS64 Red sold for $13,800, greatly exceeding the PCGS Price Guide listed price of $4,000. A 1927S Lincoln cent graded PCGS MS64 Red sold for $8,338, and it also exceeded the PCGS Price Guide price by over 100%! Early-date Lincoln cents have been realizing very high prices lately since there is such a tremendous demand for them.

Other examples of copper coins realizing high prices are the Indian cent series. In June 2008, Teletrade Coin Auctions auctioned a large collection of coins in old PCGS green holders. The collection sold by Teletrade also realized astonishing, record-breaking prices for many of the coins in its auction.

Image Courtesy of
Teletrade Coin Auctions

One of the coins realizing an impressive price was the 1909S Indian Head cent graded PCGS MS65 Red. The coin sold for $22,500, even though the PCGS Price Guide lists this coin at $8,500 in MS65 Red. This coin brought a significant premium because of the old PCGS holder and the extremely nice quality of the coin.

Copper cents have made quite a statement in the past couple of years and especially in the past few months, with prices really climbing high. With the Lincoln cent design changing next year and inflation, who knows where the price of Lincoln cents and other copper coins will go? Only time will tell.