1956 Wheat Penny Value: What Is It Worth in 2026?
Common date: not worth selling one by one. Keep it for your collection, or bundle it with other wheat pennies by the roll or bag.
Value by condition
| Fine (F-12) | $0.06 |
| Very Fine (VF-20) | $0.12 |
| Extremely Fine (XF-40) | $0.14 |
| About Uncirculated (AU-50) | $0.18 |
| Mint State (MS-63, uncirculated) | $1.24 |
Grades without a published guide price are not shown.
A 1956 Lincoln Wheat Cent struck at the Philadelphia (no mint mark) mint — a final-years issue with huge surviving supply, often collected by the roll or bag.
What a 1956 wheat penny looks like
Your 1956 looks exactly like this, with "1956" where the date sits in the photo.
How to judge the condition of your coin
- Look at the wheat stalks first. On a worn coin (like the photo — about "Good" grade), the stalk lines are mostly smooth. If every line and grain in the stalks is sharp, you are looking at Extremely Fine or better.
- Then check Lincoln's cheek and jaw. These are the highest points on the front. Wear shows there before anywhere else; a flat cheek means a lower grade.
- When in doubt, grade down. Sellers systematically overgrade; use the lower row of the price table and you will not be disappointed.
Worn-coin photo: Mark Morgan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
1956 penny: mints compared
| Version | Mintage | Value range |
|---|---|---|
| 1956-D Wheat Penny | ~1,098 million struck | $0.06–$1.24 |
| 1956 Wheat Penny (this page) | ~421 million struck | $0.06–$1.24 |
Mintage and value can differ a lot by mint mark — compare the versions above before assuming yours is the common one.
1956 wheat penny no mint mark value
If your 1956 penny has no letter below the date, nothing is missing and nothing is wrong — it was struck at the Philadelphia Mint, which did not mark its cents. "No mint mark" and "P" are the same coin, so the price table above is exactly the one to use.
In worn condition a 1956 Philadelphia cent trades close to face value — dealers sell them by the roll. Uncirculated examples with original red luster are where the value lives: around $1.24 in MS-63. The 1956-D version (with a letter under the date) is a different coin — check the related links below if yours has one.
The 1956 penny: late-series common with a mint mark variety
1956 is a classic late-series wheat penny: Philadelphia struck 420,745,000 and Denver well over a billion, so worn examples are worth face value and trade by the roll. In uncirculated condition the guide value is around $1.25 in MS-63 — modest, which is exactly why grading a regular 1956 rarely pays.
The one thing worth checking is on the Denver issue, not the Philadelphia one: the 1956-D 'D above shadow D' variety shows a faint secondary D above the main mint mark, and it is listed in this site's variety pages. On a Philadelphia 1956 there is no mint mark to inspect at all — no letter below the date is correct and expected.
Keep or sell: a worn 1956 is a jar coin. Uncirculated red examples are worth setting aside for a year set, and anything you believe is a variety should be compared against certified reference photos before you pay for grading.
How to confirm it's genuine
- The mint mark sits directly below the date — no letter means Philadelphia (P). A magnifier with light at a 45° angle works best.
- Never clean the coin: cleaning destroys the original surface and can cut the value in half.
- For any coin worth more than $200, PCGS/NGC grading fees (~$20–50) are money well spent.
Where to sell this coin
- eBay works best in the $1.00–$200 range. Take clear photos of both sides in natural light, and put the year, mint mark, and approximate grade in the title.
- A local coin dealer is the fastest way to cash out, but expect 60–70% of guide prices. Best for selling common dates in bulk.
- Graded high-value coins do best at auction houses like Heritage Auctions or Stack's Bowers, where realized prices are public.