An Article I wrote for my local club ... The Lincoln Cent
BillJones
Posts: 34,544 ✭✭✭✭✭
_I write articles for my local club's monthly meeting notice on a regular basis. There is nothing groundbreaking about most of them, and they are mostly aimed toward the causal collector. Still after I've written them, it seems a shame to just let them sit. So here is one on the Lincoln Cent that I wrote last year. I have added some photos which are part of the programs I usually give along with the articles.
I have like this, I'll post whole thing. It's a bit long to cover in one post._
A Brief History of the Lincoln Cent
By Bill Jones
I don't know about most of today's collectors, but my introduction to coin collecting began with the 13th Edition of The Red Book, and the two Whitman Lincoln cent folders that covered the series from 1909 to 1959. As a ten year old I began looking at every Lincoln cent in sight, but after awhile my interests turned to Indian cents and ultimately type coins. I finally decided to finish my 1909 to 1940 collection around 1982 when I bought the last coin I needed, a 1909-S-VDB with ANACS paper certification. Since there I have acquired a few Lincoln Cent related items although the series has never been my top priority since those early days as a collector. Now that the Lincoln cent has been around for a record setting 108 years, I thought it might be interesting to look at the highlights of this most enduring of all U.S. coins.
The Lincoln cent had its beginnings as a project for President Theodore Roosevelt. That's right. The same president who spearheaded the effort to give us the St. Gaudens $20 gold coin was the man who initiated the Lincoln cent.
In 1907 Theodore Roosevelt was posing for artist Victor D. Brenner for a medal that would be awarded to the workers who built the Panama Canal. Building the canal was hard and dangerous work. In addition to the usual hazards that are connected with a major construction project, there was also the constant threat of diseases like malaria and yellow fever. Previous attempts to build the canal had failed because of these obstacle, and Roosevelt thought that it was appropriate to award to all of those who had worked on the project for a year or more.
During their conversations Brenner mentioned that he was working a couple of Lincoln projects, a plaque and a medal. He showed Roosevelt an example of the medal, and Roosevelt was hooked. The project came to fruition in August of 1909 when the first Lincoln Cents were issued. The coins were immediately popular as newspaper boys made a brief side business of selling some of the new coins they collected to those who were anxious to see the new cent.
Lincoln Plaque by Brenner
Lincoln Medal by Brenner
1909-VDB The first Lincoln cents had Victor David Brenner's initials, V.D.B., prominently displayed at the bottom of the reverse of the coin. After some people objected to this, they were removed thus creating the 1909-VDB and 1909 Plain cents.
One of the by-products of this change was the creation of perhaps the most famous Lincoln cent, the 1909-S-VDB. The San Francisco Mint, which was in its second year of producing cents, still was making a limited number of the coins. When the change came, it was quickly noted that the mintage was "only" 484,000 pieces. The coin soon became a "key date" in the Lincoln series, and would become the object of desire for those who have spent countless hours going though pocket change and bank rolls of cents. The 1909-S-VDB cent is hardly rare, but it still sells for prices ranging from hundreds of dollars in the lowest conditions to a few thousand dollars in the top grades.
The biggest 1909 cent prize is the 1909-VDB cent in Matte Proof. With a mintage of 1,194 coins it is the rarest of all the Matte Proof Lincoln cents which were produced from 1909 to 1916. It was disclosed about a year ago that its rarity for interested collectors has been driven even higher by the fact that one person has hoarded at least 52 examples of the coin. Today the demand for the coin is intense although no one knows what affect that hoard might have on the market price.
In 1918 the mint reinstated Victor D. Brenner's initials below Lincoln's shoulder on the obverse. They have remained there to the present day. They are so small and so hard to see, that one could use them as an eye test to check their close-up vision!
1911-D This date gets very little press, but it does mark a minor historical milestone. It was the first year that the Denver Mint issued cents.
1914-D Cent from my boyhood collection
1914-D This is the second key date in the Lincoln cent series. With a mintage of 1,193,000 it is not as highly regarded as the 1909-S-VDB in the circulated grades, but scarcer and more valuable in Mint State. Since this coin was issued after the introductory period for the Lincoln Cent, not as many pieces were saved in Mint State. By the time collectors realized that the 1914-D was a good coin, many of them were in the circulated grades.
To be continued ... if you like
Comments
Thanks for sharing this with us.
You should post a new one every Saturday.
Okay, we will go further
Thank Heritage for the Photos
1922 Plain In 1922 cents were only produced at the Denver Mint. Apparently the demand for new cents was low that year, and the Philadelphia Mint did not issue any cents for the first time since 1815. Since then the Philadelphia Mint has issued cents every year up to the present.
In those years the Philadelphia Mint produced all of the dies for the U.S. Mint System. In 1922 the Philly mint personnel were overwhelmed with orders to produce dies for the new Peace Dollar. As a result the Denver Mint had to use their cent dies beyond their useful life which resulted in pieces with fuzzy images and ultimately no mint mark. There are three varieties of the 1922 Plain cent. By far the most desirable of these is the die pair which has the "strong reverse." The obverse of all 1922 Plain cents is weak to varying degrees because the variety was created by excessive die wear and polishing.
The 1922 Plain cent started to become a part of the "standard" Lincoln cent set in the early 1940s. Judging by the articles that were published in The Numismatist not all collectors thought that it was a worthwhile addition. One collector even suggested that one could save the money and simply scrape off the "D" if they really wanted a 1922 "Plain" cent!
Thanks again Heritage!
1931-S The 1931-S cent was a product of The Great Depression when massive unemployment and hard times resulted low demand for new coins. With a mintage of 866,000, the coin is hardly rare, and enough were saved to make any undamaged piece below the Fine-VF grade "scarce." Still it is a "semi key" date. Interestingly the Philadelphia Mint, which customarily exchanged old coins for new coins across the counter, still had Mint State 1931-S cents available for exchange up until the late 1930s.
1943 Steel Cents At beginning of World War II copper became a strategic war material. In an effort to save more copper for the war effort, the composition of the cent was changed from bronze to steel with a coating of zinc.
The coins were immediately unpopular. Some people confused them with the dime. The coins also became unattractive in circulation. After only a year, the copper cent made a return although now the coins were made from metal recovered from old shell casings. The color was a little different, but it can only be detected on very high grade Mint State cents with full red mint color.
For many years there were claims that the 1943 cents existed in bronze. Many collectors and dealers pooh-poohed the idea, but with advent of certification services, it has been proven that a small number were made and have survived from all three mints. There is also an even smaller number of 1944 cents that were made of steel with the zinc coating. Many bogus 1943 "copper" cents have been made by plating the steel cents. These counterfeits are easily detected because they are drawn to a magnet. The genuine bronze pieces are not magnetic.
Nice write up, thanks!
A 1944 Steel Cent
1955 Doubled Die Obverse Cent When this coin was first surfaced in the mid 1950s, it had a market value of 35 cents. Its popularity increased rapidly, and it 1959 it reached "the big time" when it won a listed in The Red Book at $35.00 in Uncirculated condition. Today prices range from almost $1,000 in the VF, which is often the lowest "no problem" grade encountered to almost $40,000 in MS-65, Red.
The 1955 Doubled Die Obverse Cent is the most famous of a very large number of doubled die coins in the U.S. series. There are hundreds of varieties of doubled die Lincoln cents, but many of them display doubling that is too minor to be of interest to most collectors. Historically getting a spot in The Red Book has been a prerequisite for these coins to become famous and valuable. Others include the 1970, 1983 doubled die reverse, 1984 doubled ear, 1995 and the most expensive of all, the 1969-S.
The Lincoln Memorial Reverse Introduced in 1959 Nineteen fifty-nine marked the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln Cent and the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Frank Gasparro designed a new reverse which featured a frontal view of the Lincoln Memorial complete with the tiny statue of a seated Lincoln between the two center columns.
The depiction of a building on a coin is always a challenge, and on a tiny thin coin like a cent developing a credible design would have been a miracle. Gasparro's work was better than might have been expected, but derisive descriptions such as "It looks like trolley car," have been made. On a personal note the announcement of the new coin in "The Weekly Reader" prompted me to hoard every new cent that passed into my hands when I was 10 years old. This was the first indication that I might become a coin collector.
1969-S Doubled Die Cent ... Thanks to Heritage
1969-S Doubled Die Obverse Cent This coin began its existence under a cloud of suspicion because an earlier reported 1969-P doubled die cent turned out to be a counterfeit. That piece was produced by a counterfeiting ring that made their creations from spark erosion dies. The Secret Service shut down their operation, and the perpetrators went to jail. When the San Francisco Mint coin surfaced, it was greeted with skepticism, but then it was proven to be genuine.
With an estimated population of around 30 coins, the 1969-S doubled die cent is a very scarce collectable. Most of the known examples are brown Uncirculated pieces, and they are not often attractive. The record price is $126,500 which was paid at auction for a PCGS graded coin in MS-64, Red. Prices close to $10,000 for average pieces are not unusual. I once handled one that was priced in the $8,000 neighborhood.
The 1982 Seven Piece Set By 1982 the price of copper had reached the point where it cost the mint system more than one cent to produce a cent. To relieve that problem the mint switched from the sold bronze cent, which had been issued since 1864, to a zinc coin with a thin layer of copper mid way through 1982. The new coins were virtually identical so far as the average citizen was concerned, but coin collectors and dealers jumped on the subtle difference. To add to the fun it was discovered that there were large and small date varieties issued from the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. Cardboard cards housed in plastic sleeves with openings for the seven varieties of 1982 cents copped up at coin shows at modest prices. Today those sets have faded into the past, but the fact remains that the copper cent, which had long been a staple in the American monetary series since the beginning began to disappear from circulation.
The 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial Four Piece Cent Set In 2009 the U.S. Mint System issued a set of four reverses for the venerable Lincoln cent which celebrated four phases of the Great Emancipator's life. They were birth and early childhood (a log cabin), the formative years (Lincoln studying book, sitting on a log), professional life (Lincoln standing in front of the Illinois State Capital in Springfield) and the presidency (the U.S. capitol with its dome under construction). The coins were to be issued sequentially throughout 2009, but the recession got in the way. The decreased economic activity reduced the need for new coins, and distribution of the coins was disappointingly slow. As a result fewer citizens than expected took note of the series.
In an effort to make the coins special for collectors, the Proof pieces were struck on bronze planchets instead of the customary copper coated zinc. These four special coins were included in the 2009 Proof sets, both clad and silver, and the Lincoln Coin & Chronicles Set, which included the four Proof cents plus the Lincoln commemorative silver dollar. One unfortunate aspect to these coins was that some of them had tendency to tarnish in the mint case. This may have been due to the solutions that the mints used to clean the planchets before the coins were struck.
In 2010 the mint introduced the Shield Reverse to the Lincoln cent. The design was reminiscent of the tiny shield that had appeared on the reverse of the Indian cent starting in 1860.
Today the cent has become an obsolete coin despite the fact that the mint system produces billions of them every year. The coin has no purchasing power and costs more to produce than its face value. About the only use the cent has is to make change for the state sales tax on purchases. Despite calls to discontinue the cent, the Federal Government has been reluctant to drop it. Recently Canada dropped its cent from production. One can only wonder how much longer this venerable representative of our nation's monetary system will continue to be issued.
That's All Folks !!!
I really hope you make this a weekly Saturday presentation.
A lot of us will enjoy, appreciate, and benefit from, and appreciate it!
Wonderful article! Thank you for your time and effort to get this out.
We need more of this type post here.
Pete
That's my 69-s
Here is some more interesting information about Brenner written by Leon Worden. He details a set of photographs that Brenner used to create the plaster image and eventually the bronze. I have that grouping as well.
http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/coins/worden-coinage1207a.htm
The collection of items is described here:
https://coins.ha.com/itm/lincoln/tokens-and-medals/major-lincolniana-grouping-from-the-estate-of-charles-eliot-norton/a/460-1662.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
Great article, Thank you Mr. Jones.
I know its an anniversary year and all for the "Mint" but I do wonder if the "P" mintmark being used for the
very first time is also a possible goodbye and farewell for the Cent, we will know soon enough I guess.
R.I.P Son 1986>2020
Nice read, I love copper.
Excellent post, thank you for the time and effort, looking forward to the next post.
A very enjoyable read for both a beginner or veteran.Thanks
Thanks for sharing
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Excellent!
Great article(s) Bill... very informative and a nice timeline of the Lincoln cent. Cheers, RickO
Thank you for the article. It was an enjoyable and educational read, although I'm not a penny collector. And the addition of the pics were excellent! Kudos!
Successful transactions with Schmitz7, Bigbuck1975, chumley, CCHunter, Smittys, Gerard, Tookybandit, MorganMan94, LogPotato, coinlieutenant, GoldCoin98, pcgs69, Kccoin, ajaan, JBN, BLee23,....
Thanks as always, great post. Two questions:
Can I join your coin club?
I took a look at the populations for the Matte proof lincolns and only saw a few 55/58 MPL's. Has anyone ever found any circulated examples or low grade examples? Anyone know if circulated examples can even be authenticated?
I suppose you could join the club. The secretary could add your email to his monthly list. The dues are $12 a year.