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Lincoln cent · 1972 · Philadelphia

1972 Doubled Die Penny: What It’s Worth and How to Spot the Real One

A real 1972 doubled die penny sold for $198 lightly worn (AU50) in November 2025, and uncirculated ones bring about $450 to $1,150. The record is $14,400. Look at the date, LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST: on the real one all three are strongly doubled, easy to see without a magnifier.

Updated October 22, 2026 · 10 sources

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A 1972 doubled die penny with a doubled date, LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST
1972 doubled die obverse (FS-101) · Photo: PCGS
Year and mint
1972, Philadelphia (no mint mark)
What’s different
Doubled date, LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST and bust
How many
No official count; estimates run from about 20,000 to 75,000 released
Out of
2,933,255,000 Philadelphia cents in 1972
Variety
FS-101 · WDDO-001 · PCGS #2950
Metal
95% copper, 5% zinc

What it’s worth

These are real Heritage auction results including the buyer’s premium. Most 1972 doubled dies were saved uncirculated, so even nice ones are affordable; the price climbs steeply only at MS67 and above.

ConditionPriceSale
AU50, lightly worn (PCGS)$198Heritage, November 2025 · source
AU58, barely worn (PCGS)$317Heritage, February 2026 · source
MS63 Red-Brown, uncirculated (NGC)$456Heritage, February 2025 · source
MS64 Red, uncirculated (PCGS)$586Heritage, September 2026 · source
MS65 Red, gem (PCGS)$793Heritage, February 2026 · source
MS66 Red, gem (PCGS)$1,140Heritage, December 2025 · source
MS67 Red, superb gem (PCGS)$2,640Heritage, November 2025 · source
$14,400The record: PCGS MS67+ Red, Heritage, June 6, 2019 · source

Two PCGS MS67 Red coins sold for $2,640 and $4,800 a month apart in late 2025, so the top grades swing a lot. Fewer than 10 had graded MS67+ or better by 2021.

How to tell if you have one

  1. Check the date is 1972 with no letter under it. The famous doubled die was struck in Philadelphia only.
  2. Look at the date. All four digits are strongly doubled, with the second image toward the lower left.
  3. Look at LIBERTY. Each letter has a clear second outline along the bottom.
  4. Look at IN GOD WE TRUST. It’s doubled toward the right, so “IN” looks like it has two I’s. The front of Lincoln’s bust is doubled too.
  5. Check the doubling is rounded and separated, with the corners of the letters standing apart. Flat, shelf-like doubling is machine doubling and adds nothing.
  6. Turn it over and use a loupe on UNITED: a real one has a small die scratch between the I and T, and a die gouge from the rim above the D. Counterfeits exist, so have it certified.

Coins that fool people

The common 1972 doubling

60% to 70% of all 1972 cents show slight doubling on the motto, LIBERTY and faintly the date, from a doubled master die. It’s far too common to be worth anything extra. The real one is bold.

Machine doubling

A bouncing die during the strike leaves flat, shelf-like edges and the corners of the letters don’t separate. It adds no value.

The other 1972 doubled dies

About 10 to 12 other 1972 doubled-die varieties exist, with much weaker doubling. Some are rare: a 1972 DDO-004 in PCGS MS66 Red sold for $21,811.50 at GreatCollections in June 2023.

Counterfeits

Fakes tend to have weak letters that blend into the field and pocked surfaces with raised lumps, especially around IN GOD WE TRUST. A real coin has bold, crisp doubling and the die markers on the back.

The story

In 1972 one of the Philadelphia Mint’s working dies for the cent was made with a doubled, slightly rotated image, so every coin it struck came out with a doubled date and lettering.

Collectors had confirmed the first ones by July 1972. Most turned up in Indiana and Pennsylvania, and by August dealers were already trading them over teletype.

It’s one of the few doubled-die cents you can see plainly without a magnifier, and PCGS calls it one of the major varieties of the whole Lincoln cent series.

Because so many were pulled from circulation fresh, uncirculated ones are easy to find. Truly perfect ones are not: fewer than 10 had graded MS67+ or better by 2021.

Real doubled die or the common kind?

Most 1972 pennies with a little doubling are worth one cent. The real FS-101 is worth hundreds. Scan it and AnyCoins tells you which one you have.

  1. Open AnyCoins and photograph the heads side, then the tails side, in good light.
  2. AnyCoins identifies the coin and checks it for known errors and varieties.
  3. You see its condition estimate, a price range by condition and what the same coin has sold for.
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Why collectors use AnyCoins

  • Photograph both sides and it names the coin: country, year, mint and denomination.
  • Values from real sales: a price range by condition and recent sales of the same coin, not a guess.
  • A condition estimate from your photos, so you know which row of the price table you’re in.
  • Checks the coin for known errors and varieties, the kind that turn a cent into thousands.
  • Melt value for silver and gold, and the mint that struck it on the Mint Map.

Questions people ask

How much is a 1972 doubled die penny worth?

Worn ones sold for $198 (AU50) and $317 (AU58) at Heritage in 2025 and 2026. Uncirculated ones sold for about $450 to $1,150 (MS63 to MS66). The record is $14,400 for an MS67+ Red in 2019.

How do I know if my 1972 penny is a doubled die?

The date, LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST all show strong, clearly separated doubling you can see without a magnifier. Faint doubling on the motto alone is the common kind and has no premium.

How many 1972 doubled die pennies were made?

There’s no official count. Estimates range from about 20,000 to 75,000 released, and a few thousand may survive.

Does a 1972-D doubled die penny exist?

The famous doubled die (FS-101) is a Philadelphia coin with no mint mark. A 1972-D with doubling is not the valuable one.

Sources

  1. PCGS CoinFacts: 1972 1C Doubled Die Obverse, RD (#2950)
  2. Heritage: 1972 1C Doubled Die Obverse FS-101 MS67+ Red PCGS, June 6, 2019
  3. Greysheet / CPG: 1972 1c DDO FS-101, Red
  4. Greysheet / CPG: 1972 1c DDO FS-101, Red-Brown
  5. Greysheet / CPG: 1972 1c DDO FS-101, Brown
  6. COINage: 1972 Doubled Die Lincoln Penny, PCGS Coin of the Week (2021)
  7. CoinWeek: Counterfeit Coin Detection, the 1972 Doubled Die Lincoln Cent (NGC, 2021)
  8. NGC: Doubled Dies vs. Machine Doubling
  9. Wexler’s Coins and Die Varieties: 1972 1c listings
  10. Numismatic News: “Minor” doubled cent sells for record $21,811 (2023)

Prices are public auction results including the buyer’s premium unless marked as a price guide. A coin’s value depends on its exact condition and on having it certified by a grading service such as PCGS or NGC.