Took this coin, along with others, to a coin shop and was told it was just of the mill junk and not worth much but now I'm starting to wonder as I see them going for hundreds of dollars. He kept it and gave my lady friend a lump sum(not much) for all the coins. Maybe we had one that wasn't worth much I suppose, and I am new to coin collecting(Morgans ). Just curious as to what others might think.
Welcome to Coin Community, Morgansabound. I've taken the liberty of moving this to a more appropriate forum.
Your 1877 has little value unless it has not circulated at all, or is a Proof. If it shows noticeable circulation it isn't rare enough to be really profitable for the dealer. Condition is everything in numismatics.
I'm quite sure others more qualified than I will be along soon to tell you far more than you want to know about this coin.
As I understand, two major varieties exist for the 1877 Penny: Wide Date and Narrow Date.
The wide date variety is by far the more common of the two, and as Dave said, is worth little in circulated grades. The narrow date variety however is exceedingly rare, and highly sought after even in poor grade.
Fortunately, identification is simple, as the difference is in the spacing of the numerals in the date. Here is a side-by-side comparison with narrow date on left, and wide date on the right:
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