Victor David Brenner designed the new penny and put his initials “V.D.B.” to the reverse of the coin between the stalks of wheat. Only 484,000 coins were produced, which is what makes it so rare.

Seasoned coin collectors are already well familiar with Wheat Pennies, a U.S. one cent coin issued from 1909 to 1958 that has an image of Abraham Lincoln on the obverse side and two stalks of ...