AboutMyCoin1921-S Wheat Penny in MS69BN
A 1921-S Wheat penny graded MS69BN is that coin in one particular state of preservation — the date and the mint mark are already fixed, and MS69BN is what a grader called the surface that survived. What that looks like on this coin is below. Where the grade sits against the rungs either side of it, and every way it is written on a slab, are in the table below.
What MS69BN means
A 1921-S Wheat penny in Mint State (MS-69) Brown is one mark away from perfect, and that mark is visible only under magnification. On a coin struck for circulation this grade is essentially unheard of; where it occurs at all it is on an issue the Mint sold directly, in packaging that never let the coin touch another. Brown is what copper becomes: the mint red has oxidised away across all but a few per cent of both faces. Nearly every 1921-S Wheat penny that has spent decades outside an airtight holder is brown, and brown is much the cheapest of the three colours.
A slab, a dealer’s list or a price guide may write this grade MS69 BN, MS-69BN or MS-69 BN. They are the same grade and the same 1921-S Wheat penny.
Where this grade sits
The grades a 1921-S Wheat penny is given run from PO1 to MS70RD. One step up from MS69BN is Mint State (MS-70) Brown. In general terms, the higher the grade the more the coin is worth.
How to check this yourself
Sold listings, not asking prices. The link below is already filtered to completed sales of a 1921-S Wheat penny in MS69BN, which is the difference between what somebody paid and what somebody hoped for. Until this site has a researched figure for this grade, that search is the answer — take the middle of several recent sales rather than the highest.
Not an appraisal. AboutMyCoin estimates from published specifications and does not authenticate or grade coins.
1921-S Wheat Penny: every grade, the metal and the specification →