AboutMyCoin1948 Wheat Penny (No Mint Mark) in AG3
A 1948 Wheat penny with no mint mark graded AG3 is that coin in one particular state of preservation — the date and the mint mark are already fixed, and AG3 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 AG3 means
A 1948 Wheat penny with no mint mark in About Good (AG-3) is worn past the point where the design carries any detail: the cheekbone and the jaw of Lincoln’s portrait and the hair above his ear are gone, the tips of the wheat ears and the upper edges of their stalks are flat to the field, and the rim has worn into LIBERTY behind the shoulder, IN GOD WE TRUST above the head and the date so that parts of the lettering merge with the edge. The date is readable, and on a scarce issue that is the whole of what this grade has to guarantee.
A slab, a dealer’s list or a price guide may write this grade AG-3. They are the same grade and the same 1948 Wheat penny with no mint mark.
Where this grade sits
The grades a 1948 Wheat penny with no mint mark is given run from PO1 to MS70RD. One step up from AG3 is Good (G-4). 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 1948 Wheat penny with no mint mark in AG3, 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 1948 Wheat Penny (No Mint Mark) in AG3 →
Not an appraisal. AboutMyCoin estimates from published specifications and does not authenticate or grade coins.
1948 Wheat Penny (No Mint Mark): every grade, the metal and the specification →