1909 was a year of many "firsts." U.S. Navy persuade Robert E. Peary became the first man to grasp the North Pole. The first transcontinental sedan chase took place between New York and Seattle, and up in the sky, French engineer Louis Bleriot made the first English Channel crossing in a heavier-than-air procedure. The United States Mint was preparing a first of its own: an usual-arise U.S. coin reverence an actual person. Defying a tradition that square back to George Washington's presidency, plans were made to venerate the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth with a new cent featuring a bust of the beloved head.
For more than a century, central officials had followed George Washington's hint and avoided the depiction of presidents, former or nearby-or any other recognizable individuals-on the people's circulating change. Thus, when the notion of a Lincoln coin arose, it encountered really resistance from traditionalists. Skeptics and critics were no match, however, for President Theodore Roosevelt. "TR" had a personal hobby in revitalizing U.S. penny. Having pressed through exciting new designs for the four gold denominations, he turned his notice to the cent, where the Indian Head motif had detained lean since 1859. He was steered in this objective by Victor David Brenner, a Lithuanian emigre with tremendous artistic talent and vast admiration for Abraham Lincoln. Their paths crossed in 1908, when Roosevelt posed for Brenner for a Panama Canal Service honor. The artiste had already modeled a tablet and medal for Lincoln's birth centennial and optional a Lincoln coin. The president easily approved and asked him to tender planned designs.
Brenner's frontage devised featured a sketch of Lincoln facing right, and for the first time on the cent, the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. Flanking Lincoln's bust on the left was the inscription LIBERTY, with the meeting on the right. The invert conceive showed two sheaves of wheat, one on either wall, framing the inscriptions ONE CENT, E PLURIBUS UNUM and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The peak points on the face are Lincoln's cheekbone and jaw, on the invert the tips of the wheat stalks. These are the chairs to first show wear.
The controversy over Lincoln's depiction shortly died away; most Americans found the design appealing. A new dispute urbanized when the first examples of the coin, released in August 1909, were found to produce the artist's initials V.D.B. in large words at the corrupt of the contrary. Public outcry led to their quick ejection, and that in transform resulted in the creation of a main find: Only 484,000 cents were minted in San Francisco with the initials, and the 1909-S V.D.B. cent has been the most popular coin in the sequence ever since. S-mint cents of 1909 without the V.D.B. are scarce, too, but, with a mintage of 1.8 million they're four times more "common." Brenner's initials were restored in 1918, in much slighter lettering, on the shoulder of Lincoln's bust.
Lincoln cent mintages were substantial from the outset. The Philadelphia Minted (no mintmark) was the major producer, with the San Francisco (S) and Denver (D) facilities augmenting production in most being, Denver not first until 1911. Philadelphia abandoned minted more than 100 million in 1909, and in 1941, absolute single-year crop topped one billion for the first time. Matte-evidence Lincoln cents were produced in Philadelphia from 1909 through 1916, and brilliant proofs were struck from 1936 through 1942 and again from 1950 through 1964. Brilliant proofs have been made annually since 1968 in San Francisco. Despite the admirable production levels, many Lincoln cents enjoy substantial premium value; for while the supply is great, the ultimatum is similarly so. Collectors frequently make this the very first string they pursue because of its high visibility and qualified affordability, and many weld with it even after graduating from the novice ranks.
Not counting errors or other scarce varieties, only two coins in the cycle have mintages below one million: 1909-S V.D.B. and 1931-S, a Depression-era release with a mintage of 866,000. S-mint issues commonly have had the buck mintages. One of the most coveted keys in the Lincoln series, though, is a Denver cent: 1914-D. Just 1,193,000 pieces were struck, and relatively few were preserved in mint term. Other scarce issues contain 1910-S, 1911-S, 1912-S, 1913-S, 1914-S, 1915-S and 1924-D.
Offbeat pieces rank among the most priceless in the series. One of these is the 1922 "Plain"-actually a Denver Mint product on which the D mint spot below the court is all but finished. This coined came to light only because no cents were minted in Philadelphia in 1922, the only time that's been dutiful in the series. Other Lincolns keenly required by collectors are "doubled-die" errors. These coins have apparent doubling in the date and/or inscriptions. Perhaps the most dramatic, and most helpful, error of this font occurred on the face of small figures of cents struck in 1955 at Philadelphia. Major doubling also can be found on the frontage of some cents square 1936, 1972, 1984 and on the switch of some cents square 1983.
In 1943, with copper urgently needed for combat-related purposes, the Mint made Lincoln cents from zinc-layered steel. The substitute proved unsatisfactory, and from 1944 through 1946 the Mint instead worn the brass alloy first tried in 1942; this lacked the small percentage of tin employed before, and after the war. At least a portion of this brass was obtained from salvaged cartridge bags, which did the job nicely. The one-year experiment left a lasting heritage when the Mint inadvertently struck minuscule records of 1943 cents in effigy and a somewhat larger number of 1944 cents in steel. Both are utterly unusual and priceless. Many time ago, a deceitful gossip expand around the country that Henry Ford would trade a new car in talk for the fabeled 1943 copper!
The Lincoln cent's 50th birthday, in 1959, also clear the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. The Mint observed it by bountiful the cent a new repeal depicting the Lincoln Memorial. Frank fashioned this Gasparro, a junior engraver (and prospect chief engraver) at the Mint.
The Lincoln cent would go onto be issued longer than any other coin in U.S. chronicle and in far bigger numbers than any other coin in the story of the world. Looking back, it seems incomprehensible that such a household coin-one we take for granted today-was ever viewed as controversial.
SPECIFICATIONS:
1909-1942, 1947-1962 Diameter: 19 millimeters Weight: 3.11 grams Composition: .950 copper.050 zinc and tin Edge: Plain 1943 Diameter: 19 millimeters Weight: 2.70 grams Composition: Zinc-encrusted steel Edge: Plain 1944-1946, 1962-1982 Diameter: 19 millimeters Weight: 3.11 grams Composition: .950 copper.050 zinc Edge: Plain 1982 to date Diameter: 19 millimeters Weight: 2.50 grams Composition: .975 zinc.025 copper Edge: Plain
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Lange, David W. The Complete Guide to Lincoln Cents, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1996. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Taylor, Sol, The Standard Guide to the Lincoln Cent, 3rd Edition, published by the cause, Sherman Oaks, CA, 1992. Tomaska, Rick Jerry, Cameo and Brilliant Proof Coinage of the 1950 to 1970 Era, R & I Publications, Encinitas, CA, 1991. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Wexler, John & Kevin Flynn, The Authoritative Reference on Lincoln Cents, KCK Press, Rancocas, NJ, 1996.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.
