AboutMyCoin1953-S Wheat Penny in VF30
A 1953-S Wheat penny graded VF30 is that coin in one particular state of preservation — the date and the mint mark are already fixed, and VF30 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 VF30 means
A 1953-S Wheat penny in Very Fine (VF-30) sits at the top of Very Fine: the individual grains on the wheat ears and the strands of hair above Lincoln’s ear are largely present, the cheekbone and the jaw of Lincoln’s portrait and the hair above his ear have lost their shape over a smaller area than at twenty, and only the highest points are worn. It is the last grade where the wear is obvious at arm’s length.
A slab, a dealer’s list or a price guide may write this grade VF-30. They are the same grade and the same 1953-S Wheat penny.
Where this grade sits
The grades a 1953-S Wheat penny is given run from PO1 to MS70RD. One step up from VF30 is Very Fine (VF-35). 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 1953-S Wheat penny in VF30, 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.
1953-S Wheat Penny: every grade, the metal and the specification →