1955 Double-Die Cent In Circulation?

Factual Questions
1

Some time back, when I was still a young man, I came across this ad in a tabloid. I forget what the ad was about, but it said the 1955 double die cent is still in circulation, and it apparently is worth a lot.

My question is, is it still in circulation? I mean, this is still America, where people can become rich overnight for a variety of other reasons, isn’t it? Can you imagine someone gaining a (small) fortune from a penny they got at the 7-11 have-a-penny-give-a-penny dish?

Also, don’t laugh, but I still like looking for rare coins in circulation. I still save every wheat stalk penny and bicentennial quarter I find. They may not be worth much now. But who knows what the future holds…

Well:)?

2

“out of circulation” means that it will be filtered if returned to the bank or something.

So in circulation is that no one is looking for them to remove.

If its a 1955 and its not badly damaged, it can go back out to the public.

3

I doubt there’s a bank person searching for a 1955-double-die or any other coin, except for something obvious.

There’s no way for them to really know whether there are any in circulation . . . except if they knew how many were minted, and they’re all accounted for. The phrase “in circulation” itself means that there may be one circulating, or in someone’s penny jar, or in someone’s coin album, or anywhere it’s not accounted for. I don’t have that coin in my collection, but they don’t know that.

But . . . I once found a 1914-D cent in a parking lot. As far as anyone knows, it’s still “in circulation.”

4

I recently found a 1946 penny, like new. It happens.

Given how many pennies have been minted in the last 150 years, I am amazed that we are not knee-deep in pennies!

5

Nah…even the ca. 200,035,318,672 circulating don’t take up all that much space:

http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/twelve.asp

6

Here’s a thread from a couple years ago about finding the odd coin in change.

I posted about finding steel pennies. I came across another one not too long after that.

Given how noticeable steel pennies are, it wouldn’t be surprising if less obvious coins are still out there.

7

Was that the same ad that screamed in big letters $35,000 and all you had to do was rummage through grandpa’s stuff until you found that 1804 silver dollar?