1926-S Lincoln Wheat Cent
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 4,550,000 made
- Mintage
- 4,550,000
- Metal
- 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc
- Weight
- 3.11 g
- Diameter
- 19.05 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1926-S Lincoln Wheat Cent worth?
It's scarcer than a typical date, so even circulated examples sell above face. The best uncirculated coins are where the money is.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- Full red copper color (labeled RD) rather than brown
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1926-S Lincoln Wheat Cent rare?
- Somewhat. 4,550,000 were made, fewer than most dates, so collectors treat it as a semi-key.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent?
- On the obverse, directly below the date. Philadelphia cents have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1926 are scarcer?
- The 1931-S at 866,000. So the 1926-S is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1926-S Lincoln Wheat Cent coins were made?
- 4,550,000.
What to check on your 1926-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1926-D (28 million made).
- Judge the grade under good light. Check the parallel lines in the wheat stalks, Lincoln's cheek and jaw, plus the hair above the ear. Uncirculated cents are also graded by color (RD, RB, BN) and full red coins are worth multiples of brown ones.
The story of the 1926-S
Production at San Francisco fell off a cliff in 1926. Only 4,550,000 were made, against 26 million the year before. That drop is why the 1926-S is the one people look for. In 1927 the figure was 14 million.
The other mints made far more that year: 1926 alone came to 157 million, roughly 35 for every 1926-S. If you're checking a pile of 1926 coins, the S is the one to look for. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1931-D (4,480,000) and the 1912-S (4,431,000).
Across San Francisco's 44 Lincoln Wheat Cent issues, the hardest to find is the 1909-S VDB with 484,000 made. The 1926-S is on the scarcer side of the middle. Among the 1920s issues, only the 1924-D had a smaller run.
Initials return and the 1922 plain (1918 to 1929)
In 1918 Brenner's initials returned, this time tiny on the truncation of Lincoln's shoulder, where they stayed for the rest of the series. Production stayed high after the war, but a recession cut 1921 output. In 1922 only Denver struck cents. Worn and filled dies at Denver produced coins with no visible mint mark, the 1922 Plain. Only one die pair shows a strong reverse and no trace of the D. That is the variety collectors want.
Branch mint cents of the 1920s are known for soft strikes. The 1924-D, 1926-S and other San Francisco and Denver dates often show weak hair detail and mushy wheat lines. The 1926-S is notoriously hard to find with red color. Most dates from this era survive in circulated grades with brown surfaces. Fully struck, red examples from the branch mints are much harder to find than Philadelphia coins.
How to recognize it
Abraham Lincoln faces right with IN GOD WE TRUST above, LIBERTY to the left and the date to the right. The mint mark, when there is one, sits below the date. The reverse has two ears of wheat framing ONE CENT and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, with E PLURIBUS UNUM across the top. The designer's initials V.D.B. appear on the reverse of some 1909 coins and on Lincoln's shoulder from 1918.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Lincoln Wheat Cent (1909–1958) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1926 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 4,550,000 |
| Face value | 1¢ |
| Composition | 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc (bronze) |
| Weight | 3.11 grams |
| Diameter | 19.05 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Victor David Brenner |
Other 1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 Lincoln Wheat Cent | 157,088,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1926-D Lincoln Wheat Cent | 28,020,000 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1926-S Lincoln Wheat Cent | 4,550,000 | Circulation strike | – |
Mintage: Lincoln cent mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.