Double die strikes are fairly common, but few are as obvious as the 1955 penny. If you find a penny of this year, with the double die strike, and it’s in good condition, you’ll get anywhere from $700 to $2500. If you find one in uncirculated condition, it could be worth more than $16,000. It is estimated that there werer 20,000 1955 pennies that were double die stamped. It is assumed as many as half of these coins have been lost forever. The best estimates place the true number of surviving coins around 10,000 to 15,000. There’s a story on the PCGS website that states many of these pennies were originally placed inside cigarette packages. The story goes something like this: In the 50’s cigarettes were often sold in vending machines. At the time, a pack of cigarettes sold for .23 cents. The machine couldn’t give the 2 cents left over from a quarter, so the cigarette makers placed the two pennies inside the cellophane. When someone bought a pack, they got their change with the cigarettes! Apparently, many of these original 20,000 double die stamped 1955 pennies were placed in these packs. I’d assume that means the cigarette company bought a large quantity of pennies and just randomly happen to get the batch that contained this error. If you’re lucky enough to find one of these very popular double die coins, you’ll be able to turn a penny into several hundred or even several thousands of dollars. Happy hunting!