1941 Lincoln Cent Date Guide

While Europe was in the early stages of World War II and Japan was planning its attack against the U.S. in the Pacific, the Mint was busy turning out record numbers of cents. Once again breaking the record set in the previous year, the three mints produced a combined 1.1 billion cents, marking the first time the Mint produced over 1 billion coins of a single denomination in any given year.

With this in mind, uncirculated rolls are rather plentiful, with Philadelphia Mint rolls commonly selling for under $75. Uncirculated singles for all three mints can be found in a wide range of grades, including MS-66 and MS-67, for much lower prices than in previous years. Circulated coins for this year and all following years are very common and no longer warrant mention.

Die varieties are widespread this year, with over three dozen different dies known altogether. Doubled die reverses, especially the typical class 6 reverses, are rather common. Other more interesting doubled dies are numerous, although difficult to locate and quite valuable.

San Francisco minted coins bear two different sizes of mintmarks this year. Like with 1928-S cents, the large mintmark is scarcer than the small mintmark. Unlike the 1928-S cent, there is little value difference between the two because generalist collectors have yet to realize the relational scarcity of the large to small, which in my experience examining them over a number of years, is approximately 1 to 12.

As with 1940 cents, 1941 cents also sport their share of machine doubling. Rather common, especially for Philadelphia minted cents on the obverse, these have been reported and rejected as doubled dies a number of times.