The Lincoln Cent featured the "Wheat Ears" reverse from 1909 to 1958. These coins are often referred to as "wheaties" or "wheat pennies" by collectors. The lowest mintage coin for this half of the series is the well known 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent at 484,000 pieces. Besides this issue, there are several other semi-key date coins with mintages around the one million or below range.
The Wheat Cent reached a milestone in 1944, when more than one billion pennies were produced at the Philadelphia Mint. This mintage level was repeated in the following year. However, after this point the one billion mark was not reached for a single mint's production until the 1956, after which the sum would become typical.
The table below displays the mintage figures for the Lincoln Wheat Cent from 1909 to 1958.
Lincoln Wheat Cent Mintages
| 1909 | 72,702,618 |
| 1909 VDB | 27,995,000 |
| 1909-S | 1,825,000 |
| 1909-S VDB | 484,000 |
| 1910 | 146,801,218 |
| 1910-S | 6,045,000 |
| 1911 | 101,177,787 |
| 1911-D | 12,672,000 |
| 1911-S | 4,026,000 |
| 1912 | 68,153,060 |
| 1912-D | 10,411,000 |
| 1912-S | 4,431,000 |
| 1913 | 76,532,352 |
| 1913-D | 15,804,000 |
| 1913-S | 6,101,000 |
| 1914 | 75,238,432 |
| 1914-D | 1,193,000 |
| 1914-S | 4,137,000 |
| 1915 | 29,092,120 |
| 1915-D | 22,050,000 |
| 1915-S | 4,833,000 |
| 1916 | 131,833,677 |
| 1916-D | 35,956,000 |
| 1916-S | 22,510,000 |
| 1917 | 196,429,785 |
| 1917-D | 55,120,000 |
| 1917-S | 32,620,000 |
| 1918 | 288,104,634 |
| 1918-D | 47,830,000 |
| 1918-S | 34,680,000 |
| 1919 | 392,021,000 |
| 1919-D | 57,154,000 |
| 1919-S | 139,760,000 |
| 1920 | 310,165,000 |
| 1920-D | 49,280,000 |
| 1920-S | 46,220,000 |
| 1921 | 39,157,000 |
| 1921-S | 15,274,000 |
| 1922-D | 7,160,000 |
| 1923 | 74,723,000 |
| 1923-S | 8,700,000 |
| 1924 | 75,178,000 |
| 1924-D | 2,520,000 |
| 1924-S | 11,696,000 |
| 1925 | 139,949,000 |
| 1925-D | 22,580,000 |
| 1925-S | 26,380,000 |
| 1926 | 157,088,000 |
| 1926-D | 28,020,000 |
| 1926-S | 4,550,000 |
| 1927 | 144,440,000 |
| 1927-D | 27,170,000 |
| 1927-S | 14,276,000 |
| 1928 | 134,116,000 |
| 1928-D | 31,170,000 |
| 1928-S | 17,266,000 |
| 1929 | 185,262,000 |
| 1929-D | 41,730,000 |
| 1929-S | 50,148,000 |
| 1930 | 157,415,000 |
| 1930-D | 40,100,000 |
| 1930-S | 24,286,000 |
| 1931 | 19,396,000 |
| 1931-D | 4,480,000 |
| 1931-S | 866,000 |
| 1932 | 9,062,000 |
| 1932-D | 10,500,000 |
| 1933 | 14,360,000 |
| 1933-D | 6,200,000 |
| 1934 | 219,080,000 |
| 1934-D | 28,446,000 |
| 1935 | 245,388,000 |
| 1935-D | 47,000,000 |
| 1935-S | 38,702,000 |
| 1936 | 309,632,000 |
| 1936-D | 40,620,000 |
| 1936-S | 29,130,000 |
| 1937 | 309,170,000 |
| 1937-D | 50,430,000 |
| 1937-S | 34,500,000 |
| 1938 | 156,682,000 |
| 1938-D | 20,010,000 |
| 1938-S | 15,180,000 |
| 1939 | 316,466,000 |
| 1939-D | 15,160,000 |
| 1939-S | 52,070,000 |
| 1940 | 586,810,000 |
| 1940-D | 81,390,000 |
| 1940-S | 112,940,000 |
| 1941 | 887,018,000 |
| 1941-D | 128,700,000 |
| 1941-S | 92,360,000 |
| 1942 | 657,796,000 |
| 1942-D | 206,698,000 |
| 1942-S | 85,590,000 |
| 1943 (Steel Cent) | 684,628,670 |
| 1943-D (Steel Cent) | 217,660,000 |
| 1943-S (Steel Cent) | 191,550,000 |
| 1944 | 1,435,400,000 |
| 1944-D | 430,578,000 |
| 1944-S | 282,760,000 |
| 1945 | 1,040,515,000 |
| 1945-D | 266,268,000 |
| 1945-S | 181,770,000 |
| 1946 | 991,655,000 |
| 1946-D | 315,690,000 |
| 1946-S | 198,100,000 |
| 1947 | 190,555,000 |
| 1947-D | 194,750,000 |
| 1947-S | 99,000,000 |
| 1948 | 317,570,000 |
| 1948-D | 172,637,500 |
| 1948-S | 81,735,000 |
| 1949 | 217,775,000 |
| 1949-D | 153,132,500 |
| 1949-S | 64,290,000 |
| 1950 | 272,635,000 |
| 1950-D | 334,950,000 |
| 1950-S | 118,505,000 |
| 1951 | 284,576,000 |
| 1951-D | 625,355,000 |
| 1951-S | 136,010,000 |
| 1952 | 186,775,000 |
| 1952-D | 746,130,000 |
| 1952-S | 137,800,004 |
| 1953 | 256,755,000 |
| 1953-D | 700,515,000 |
| 1953-S | 181,835,000 |
| 1954 | 71,640,050 |
| 1954-D | 251,552,500 |
| 1954-S | 96,190,000 |
| 1955 | 330,958,200 |
| 1955-D | 563,257,500 |
| 1955-S | 44,610,000 |
| 1956 | 420,745,000 |
| 1956-D | 1,098,201,100 |
| 1957 | 282,540,000 |
| 1957-D | 1,051,342,000 |
| 1958 | 252,525,000 |
| 1958-D | 800,953,300 |
View Lincoln Memorial Cent Mintages for coins dated 1959 to 2008.
