Lincoln Cents 1909 – 1933
The Lincoln Cent was designed by Victor D. Brenner. The first year of issue, 1909, the designers initials, VDB, were located on the reverse near the rim at the bottom. The public objected to the VDB siting the illegality of defacing coins for personal gain or reputation. The initials were removed the same year creating multiple varieties of 1909 Lincoln Cents. Realizing, years later, the ridiculous nature of the change, the VDB was restored to the coin in 1918 at the base of Lincoln’s shoulder on the obverse…were it remains to this day.
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The first Lincoln Cent was issued in 1909 in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth. The Lincoln Cent was the first cent to bear the legend “In God We Trust”. While the obverse design has undergone several minor changes over the years this bust of Lincoln has remained almost unchanged. The reverse design has however undergone a complete redesign in 1959 in honor of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. The original reverse used from 1909 to 1958 depicted two wheat stalks surrounding ONE CENT. From 1959 to the present day, the reverse depicts the Lincoln Memorial Building with ONE CENT at the bottom.
The composition of the Lincoln Cent has changes many times since its origin in 1909. From 1909 to 1942 the cents were bronze. These cents had a weight of 3.11 grams, a diameter of 19mm, a plain rim, and a composition of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc. In 1943, copper was needed for the production of ammunition for World War II. For this one year, the Lincoln Cents were made of steel coated with zinc (to prevent rusting). These cents had a weight of 2.70 grams. No bronze cents were officially struck in 1943! From 1944 to 1946 the cents were produced from salvaged cartridge cases. Although the color was slightly different, the coins proved satisfactory in all other respects. These ‘shell case’ cents had a weight of 3.11 grams and a composition of 95% copper and 5% tin. From 1947 to 1962the original pre-war specifications were resumed. Although the reverse was redesigned in 1959, see above, all other specifications were kept the same. From 1962 to 1982* the tin was dropped from the composition leaving 95% copper and 5% zinc. From 1982* to 1998 the cents have a weight of 2.50 grams and are composed of zinc with a thin copper plating. The exact composition is 99.2% zinc and 0.08% copper. The diameter size and plain rim have remained unchanged since 1909. Lincoln Cents were struck in Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point. (cents struck in Philadelphia and West Point bear no mint mark).