1957 Penny Value: 1957 and 1957-D Wheat Cents by Grade

A circulated 1957 or 1957-D wheat penny is worth about 5 cents as of October 2026, and a typical uncirculated one about $1. More than a billion were made and many were saved. Real money starts only at the very top: a PCGS MS67+ red 1957 sold for $20,400 at Heritage in December 2022, and a 1957-D in the same grade brought $6,600 at Stack's Bowers in May 2019, according to PCGS's auction records.

So the honest answer for almost every 1957 penny in a jar is a nickel or less. The rest of this guide shows how to tell the two mints apart, how to judge color and wear, and how to find out whether yours is one of the few worth sending to a grading service.

Quick answer

• A worn 1957 (no mint mark) or 1957-D wheat penny is worth about 5 cents, as of October 2026.
• A typical uncirculated coin is worth about $1, and bank-wrapped rolls of 50 from this era commonly list for roughly $10 to $30.
• PCGS's price guide lists a 1957-D at $375 in MS67 red and $6,500 in MS67+ red. Only 18 had reached MS67+ red at PCGS, and 1 MS68 red.
• Philadelphia struck 282,540,000 cents in 1957 and Denver struck 1,051,342,000, according to the Wikipedia mintage table. Neither is scarce.
• No major die variety is listed for 1957 or 1957-D, so a coin with "doubling" from pocket change is almost always machine doubling.

How do you value a 1957 penny, step by step?

Read the mint mark, check the wheat back, judge wear and color, then decide whether grading makes sense.

1. Confirm it is a wheat cent. Turn it over. Two curved wheat ears on either side of ONE CENT is the Brenner reverse used from 1909 to 1958. A 1957 date with a building on the back is not possible; the Lincoln Memorial reverse started in 1959.
2. Read the mint mark. It is a small letter on the front, directly under the date. No letter means Philadelphia. D means Denver. San Francisco made no cents in 1957.
3. Check the metal. In 1957 the cent was bronze, 95 percent copper with the rest tin and zinc, weighing 3.11 grams and measuring 19 mm across, per the PCGS CoinFacts pages. It is not steel and not zinc.
4. Judge wear. Look at Lincoln's cheekbone and jaw, and at the lines in the wheat ears. If the high points are flat and smooth, the coin is circulated and worth about 5 cents.
5. Judge color. Uncirculated cents are graded red, red-brown or brown. Even orange-red luster with no spots is what carries the gem prices. A dull brown coin is worth a few cents more than a circulated one.
6. Look for a mirror finish. A cent with deep, glassy fields and a frosted portrait is a proof, sold in sets by the Mint. Philadelphia made 1,247,952 proof cents in 1957, so these are common too.
7. Rule out damage and cleaning. A cleaned cent looks bright but dull and unnatural, with fine hairlines. It sells for little above a circulated coin.
8. Price from sold results for the same mint, grade and color. A raw coin is not priced like a coin in a PCGS MS67+ holder.

What is a 1957 penny worth?

The short table below uses PCGS price guide figures and recorded auction results, as of October 2026. Circulated coins from both mints are worth about 5 cents.

The gap between MS66 and MS67 is the whole story. PCGS's own commentary on the 1957-D, written by Ron Guth, calls it very common in all grades up to MS66, and notes that so many have been sent in chasing MS67 red that the red population is swollen. The census shows why: 3,390 coins at MS66 red, 178 at MS66+, 222 at MS67, 18 at MS67+ and a single MS68. Anything below MS67 sells for a few dollars to a few tens of dollars, so a grading fee costs more than the coin is worth.

Why is the Philadelphia 1957 worth more at the top than the 1957-D?

Because far fewer were made, so far fewer survive in flawless condition. Philadelphia struck 282,540,000 cents against Denver's 1,051,342,000, nearly four to one. The result is that the finest Philadelphia coins sell for much more than their Denver twins. The PCGS record for a 1957 red cent is $20,400 for an MS67+ at Heritage in December 2022, while the 1957-D record in the same grade is $6,600.

This only matters at the very top. In ordinary grades the Philadelphia coin and the Denver coin trade at the same few cents to a dollar, and neither is a rarity. It is the grade, the color and the strike that set the price, not the mint mark.

What does the 1957 penny look like compared with other years?

The coin itself is the same Victor David Brenner design used since 1909: Lincoln's right-facing portrait, with LIBERTY at the left, IN GOD WE TRUST above, the date at the lower right and a tiny VDB on the edge of his shoulder. The reverse has two wheat ears around ONE CENT, with E PLURIBUS UNUM above and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA below. The alloy and weight were the same as every cent from 1947 to 1962, which means no cent from this period is magnetic and none is silver.

For neighbors in the series, our guides to the 1958 penny, the 1956 penny and the 1955 penny cover the same ground, and the 1955 and 1958 guides cover the two famous doubled dies from this decade.

Is there a 1957 doubled die or error?

No major doubled die is listed for the regular 1957 or 1957-D cent in the standard references. The decade has famous doubled dies, namely the 1955 and the 1958, but 1957 is not one of them. When someone shows you a photo of a "1957 doubled die", it is nearly always machine doubling, also called strike doubling.

Machine doubling gives a flat, shelf-like ledge on one side of each letter. True hub doubling gives a raised, rounded second image. If you see doubling on LIBERTY or the date and want to check it, compare it with the pages in our guide to error coins worth money. Genuine off-center strikes, clipped planchets and wrong-planchet errors do exist for any year, and those do sell for real money, but they are a separate matter from doubling and each is priced on its own sales.

Is it worth grading a 1957 penny?

Rarely. Grading fees at PCGS and NGC are charged per coin, and with shipping they cost more than a 1957-D is worth below MS67 red. The Philadelphia coin is a little better: PCGS lists a red 1957 at about $100 in MS66, so a truly gem Philadelphia coin can just cover the fee. The math only works for a coin you honestly believe can reach MS67 or better: full, unbroken luster, even orange-red color, no spots, nicks or hairlines under a 5x loupe on the cheek and the fields in front of Lincoln's face.

That describes perhaps one coin in many rolls. If you have a roll of bright 1957-D cents, look through it for the single best coin rather than sending the roll. Our coin grading scale guide explains what separates the top mint state grades.

Where do 1957 pennies sell best?

Circulated coins sell best in bulk. Coin shops buy wheat cents by the roll or the pound at a few cents each, and eBay buyers pay the roll prices above for original bank-wrapped uncirculated rolls. A single raw coin rarely justifies a listing on its own. Top-grade coins in PCGS or NGC holders sell best through auction houses that handle Lincoln cents, where registry collectors compete for them. For the full list of wheat cent key dates that are worth real money, see wheat penny value.

A worked example

Say you open a coffee can of wheat cents from a relative and find a bright 1957-D with no wear on the cheek. The color is mostly orange with a few darker freckles near the rim, and the letters look slightly thick with a flat step on one side.

The step is machine doubling, not a doubled die, so it adds nothing. The freckles mean the coin would probably grade red-brown or red with spots, around MS64 to MS65. That is a coin worth about $1 to a few dollars, and the PCGS auction records for similar red coins show most sales in the low tens of dollars at best. It is a nice example and a good keeper, but grading would cost more than it adds. Only a spotless, fully red coin with strong luster that you honestly believe is an MS67 is worth sending in.

Common mistakes

• Expecting every 1957 to be rare because it is old. Over 1.3 billion were made between the two mints, and many were saved in rolls.
• Calling machine doubling a doubled die. Flat, shelf-like doubling is common and worth nothing extra.
• Pricing from the MS67+ column. The $6,500 and $20,400 figures are for a few dozen coins in PCGS holders, not for a coin from a jar.
• Assuming the 1957-D is the better coin. Denver made nearly four times as many cents as Philadelphia, so at the top the Philadelphia coin is the scarcer one.
• Cleaning the coin. Polishing strips the original color that decides every uncirculated price; see should you clean old coins.
• Searching for a 1957 steel or silver cent. Neither exists. The 1943 steel cent is a separate story, covered in our 1943 steel penny guide.

How WorthPic reads 1957 penny photos

WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From photos of both sides it reads the date and mint mark, confirms the wheat reverse, judges wear on the cheek and the wheat lines, and estimates color. It looks at LIBERTY and the date for the raised, rounded second image of hub doubling and separates it from flat machine doubling where the photo allows. It then gives an honest value range in US dollars with a most likely figure, explains what drives it, and says which extra photo would settle any doubt. It cannot judge an MS67 from a phone photo, cannot see tiny spots or hairlines that decide red grades, and cannot know whether a coin has been cleaned unless the surface shows it. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate, grade or appraise.

What to photograph

• The front and back straight on, in even daylight.
• The date and the space under it close up, so the mint mark can be read.
• Lincoln's cheek and jaw at a slight angle, to show wear.
• The wheat ears on the back close up.
• For a bright coin, one photo that shows the true color without glare or a flash hotspot.
• The edge, if the coin looks thick, thin or oddly shaped.

When to get it looked at in person

A worn 1957 or 1957-D needs no expert, and a dealer will usually buy wheat cents by the roll or the pound. For a coin you believe is a top-grade red gem, PCGS or NGC grading is the only way to reach the prices in the table, and it pays only for a truly spotless coin. If a coin looks unusual in a way that is not wear, such as off-center, struck through or on the wrong metal, show it to an experienced coin dealer or a local coin club before doing anything else. For the rest of a jar, start with what pennies are worth money.

Sources

• PCGS CoinFacts: 1957-D Lincoln Cent, Red: mintage, population by grade, price guide values at MS67 and MS67+ red, and the May 2019 auction record.
• PCGS CoinFacts: 1957 Lincoln Cent, Red: Philadelphia mintage and the December 2022 Heritage record.
• Wikipedia: Lincoln cent mintage figures: business strike and proof mintages for 1957.
• Wikipedia: Lincoln cent: the 1959 change of reverse, the bronze composition and the 3.11 gram weight.