AboutMyCoin1921 Wheat Penny (No Mint Mark) in AU53
A 1921 Wheat penny with no mint mark graded AU53 is that coin in one particular state of preservation — the date and the mint mark are already fixed, and AU53 is what a grader called the surface that survived. What that looks like on this coin is below. The nearest grade of this date this site does have a researched figure for is About Uncirculated (AU-50), at $30 to $41, from sales and public data.
What AU53 means
A 1921 Wheat penny with no mint mark in About Uncirculated (AU-53) carries light wear over the highest points of the design, with perhaps half of the original lustre still in the fields: the cheekbone and the jaw of Lincoln’s portrait and the hair above his ear are visibly rubbed, and the tips of the wheat ears and the upper edges of their stalks show the same. It is the lowest of the three About Uncirculated rungs above fifty and the one where the rub is easiest to see, because it covers an area rather than merely touching the peaks.
A slab, a dealer’s list or a price guide may write this grade AU-53. They are the same grade and the same 1921 Wheat penny with no mint mark.
Where this grade sits
The grades a 1921 Wheat penny with no mint mark is given run from PO1 to MS70RD. One step up from AU53 is About Uncirculated (AU-55). In general terms, the higher the grade the more the coin is worth.
A blank in the value column is a grade this site has not researched, not a grade the coin is worth nothing in.
How to check this yourself
Sold listings, not asking prices. The link below is already filtered to completed sales of a 1921 Wheat penny with no mint mark in AU53, 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.
Completed sales of a 1921 Wheat Penny (No Mint Mark) in AU53 →
Where these figures come from
We gather publicly available data from several public sources including eBay, PCGS, NGC, Numista, USA Coin Book, PriceCharting, and others.
Not an appraisal. AboutMyCoin estimates from published specifications and does not authenticate or grade coins.
1921 Wheat Penny (No Mint Mark): every grade, the metal and the specification →