The 1998 and 2000 Wide AM cents are business strikes accidentally made with the proof reverse die — the A and M of AMERICA stand clearly apart instead of nearly touching. Ordinary examples of these dates are face value; Wide AMs trade from a few dollars circulated to hundreds in certified high grade.
What it is
From 1993 to 2008, ordinary business-strike Lincoln cents were supposed to carry the “Close AM” reverse, on which the A and M of AMERICA nearly touch, while proof cents used a separate “Wide AM” reverse hub with the letters clearly apart. On three business-strike dates — 1998, 1999, and 2000 — working dies made from the proof hub slipped into circulation production, creating the Wide AM variety (PCGS CoinFacts, Jaime Hernandez). It is a Cherrypickers’ Guide staple listed as FS-901 (GreatCollections). This entry covers the 1998 and 2000 dates only — the 1999 Wide AM, the scarcest of the three, has its own entry in this wiki (1999 Wide AM cent).
How it happens at the Mint
The Mint prepares separate reverse hubs for proof and business-strike coinage. Working dies made from the proof hub (Wide AM) were mistakenly put into press for ordinary Philadelphia circulation strikes in 1998, 1999, and 2000. Because the variety was identified only after release, the Mint kept no separate count — the full Philadelphia mintages (5,032,155,000 for 1998; 5,503,200,000 for 2000) cover both normal and Wide AM coins (GreatCollections; PCGS CoinFacts). The mix-up ran in the opposite direction on proofs of those years, which occasionally show the Close AM business reverse (GreatCollections).
Diagnostics: how to identify it
Two checks, both on the reverse. First, the letter spacing: on a Wide AM, the A and M of AMERICA stand clearly apart with visible daylight between them; on a normal 1998 or 2000 business strike, the two letters nearly touch (PCGS CoinFacts). Second, the designer’s initials: on the Wide AM (proof hub), the FG sits close to the base of the Memorial; on the normal business-strike reverse, the FG is spaced well away from the building (koinpro variety reference; GreatCollections). Compare your coin side-by-side with a confirmed ordinary example — the spacing difference is a fraction of a millimeter, and certified attribution (FS-901) is worth having because of it (GreatCollections).
Real error vs. post-mint damage
The Wide AM is a hub variety — it is in the die, so it appears identically on every coin struck from the affected dies. Circulation wear, a filled die, or post-mint damage cannot create genuine wide spacing together with the proof-style FG placement close to the Memorial. If in doubt, submit to PCGS or NGC for FS-901 attribution before paying a premium.
Notable examples
The 2000 Wide AM is the most common of the three dates — PCGS notes possibly hundreds of thousands exist, struck from multiple dies, and has graded over 2,000 examples (most in MS67), with the finest at MS69 (PCGS CoinFacts, Jaime Hernandez). Even so, high-grade examples command real money: PCGS records an $800 auction result for an MS68 RD (eBay, April 2012), and recent eBay sales tracked by PriceCharting show MS66 RD examples bringing $15–$135 across 2025–2026. The 1998 is scarcer in the market: recent PriceCharting-tracked sales show MS64 RD examples at $35–$80, including an ANACS MS64 Red at $64.99 (July 2026).
Value drivers
Condition and color are everything. Full Red (RD) surfaces on copper-plated zinc cents are genuinely hard to preserve — the thin plating spots, streaks, and blisters far more readily than solid bronze — so certified RD examples in MS64 and above carry the real premiums, while Brown examples trade for much less (GreatCollections). The 1998 commands more than the 2000 at equal grade because fewer high-grade examples reach the market. Certification with FS-901 attribution is the price of admission to the strong end of the market; raw unattributed coins sell at a steep discount to holdered ones.
Market check
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Specifications and sources
Denomination: 1 cent. Mint: Philadelphia (no mintmark) for both dates. Date mintages: 1998 — 5,032,155,000 (GreatCollections); 2000 — 5,503,200,000 (PCGS CoinFacts); variety mintages unknown. Weight 2.5 grams; diameter 19 mm; composition copper-plated zinc. Obverse: Victor D. Brenner’s Lincoln; reverse: Frank Gasparro’s Memorial with proof-hub details. Variety: Wide AM, FS-901 (PCGS #83148 for 1998; #147829 for 2000 FS-901). The 1999 Wide AM is covered separately in this wiki. Sources: PCGS CoinFacts (Jaime Hernandez variety notes, mintage, population commentary), GreatCollections (variety description, 1998 mintage, color-designation economics), PriceCharting (2025–2026 eBay sale records), koinpro variety reference (diagnostic details).
