2009 Lincoln Cent Designs Unveiled

/ Adam Nash

This past week, the US Mint published updated material on the new, 2009 Lincoln Cent program, which will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the coin, and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

From the US Mint website:

In 2009, the United States Mint will mint and issue four different one-cent coins in recognition of the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the 100th anniversary of the first issuance of the Lincoln cent. The reverse (tails) designs were unveiled September 22 at a ceremony held at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. While the obverse (heads) will continue to bear the familiar likeness of President Lincoln currently on the one-cent coin, the reverse will reflect four different designs, each one representing a different aspect, or theme, of the life of President Lincoln.

The themes for the reverse designs represent the four major aspects of President Lincoln’s life, as outlined in Title III of Public Law 109-145, the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005:

The new one-cent reverse designs will be issued at approximately three-month intervals throughout 2009. The Secretary of the Treasury approved the designs for the coins after consultation with the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, and after review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

For collectors, there will be a variety of coins.  You’ll likely see each of the four cents from both the Philidelphia and Denver mints (“P” and “D” mint marks).  It also looks like there will be true copper versions, with the same metal content as the original 1909 penny, from the San Francisco mint (“S” mint mark).  That’s 12 coins, at least.

For those who are interested, here are the four designs:

I don’t expect a lot of collector activity, largely because of the low nominal value of the coin.  Since there are always active movements to get rid of the penny, this might turn out to be the last hurrah for the one cent piece.

I wonder what the US Mint will charge for a roll of these pennies?

8 thoughts on “2009 Lincoln Cent Designs Unveiled”

  1. One more goody for collectors next year will be the 2009 Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollar coins. Designs have not been released, but it will be emblematic of the life and legacy of President Lincoln.

  2. “Denver” mint. Got veep on the brain? 🙂

    Hey, maybe we can just re-base the currency by 10 and keep the penny. There’s a materials argument for this at least. Plus, then we’ll only need $70B to bail out Wall Street.

  3. Hah! That’s a silly mistake. I fixed it.

    At least I didn’t reference a fictional mint in Alaska. 🙂

    I’m afraid that no one wants to explain that their six-figure income just became worth five figures. Rebasing currency is just like a reverse split with stocks, it accelerates the downward move.

    I have wondered at times what would happen if the US just charged for pennies what they actually cost, when they cost above $0.01. If people find them so convenient, then they are likely worth more than their face value.

    Great way to see if Americans really want the penny, or just take it because it is “free”.

    Adam

  4. That would be a hard copper-plated zinc pill to swallow simply because the government has an enforced monopoly on currency. It inflates the dollar and then says we need to pay to use it in a decimal manner?

    It’s a great idea though in a free-market of currencies. I suspect most successful ones would be digital and deal with fractional values just fine.

    The Free Competition in Currency Act is 3 lines long…

  5. DOES ANYONE USE THE PRESIDENTIAL DOLLAR COINS?

    In Canada they have $1 and $2 which is great as you can buy lunch with your change.

    I think they look great and I use them everywhere I can with the help of a little change-holder called Portsou that I picked up online.

    Check it out http://www.portsou.com Go dollar!!!

  6. I’ve noticed that pre 82 cents are becoming scarcer and scarcer from the boxes I’ve been hunting. I have a feeling once the new cents are released we’ll be seeing a new planchet at which time you’ll see a lot of older memorials being melted down for their metal value.

  7. I’m also seeing fewer and fewer of the copper cents in circulation.

    It’s currently technically illegal to melt pennies, but people could still hoard them until such time as the laws change again. I think this would start happening en masse if the composition ever changes.

  8. Being Canadian and our penny is sounding to be history, i will only be able to look at your fine pennies.
    And you can bet i will hoard your pennies.
    Thank You!

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