Doubled Die Cent Hammers for $64,000
May 17, 2026
Many Lincoln cent enthusiasts know of the 1984 “Doubled Ear,” a scarce obverse doubled-die variety that usually retails in the range of $150 to $500. However, fewer collectors may be as familiar with another earful of a Lincoln cent that came along a few years later and is significantly rarer.
The 1988 “Doubled Ear” Lincoln cent is cataloged as FS-101 in Cherrypickers’ Guide to Rare Die Varieties, authored by Bill Fivaz and J.T. Stanton. An example graded Mint State-66 Red once fetched $3,150. So DLRC President John Brush was flabbergasted when the specimen his firm recently offered fetched $64,000. “My phone started exploding Thursday night with messages on social media about the record-setting price,” Brush told a Coin News reporter shortly after the April 2026 sale.
From The Reading Room