2016-08-13 Sat

Did you know that on 7th August 1959, the design of the US one cent coins was changed? The cents now depicted Lincoln Memorial on their reverse to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of this US president.

Let’s take a tour through the journey of the US cents.

The United States one-cent coin is commonly known as a penny. These pennies are the basic unit of the US currency and are one-hundredth of the US dollar. Cents have been in circulation since the late 1700s. And the design has undergone a lot of changes in its more than two-hundred-year long time frame.

The Lincoln Cent (or Lincoln Penny) the one cent coins, were introduced in 1909, replacing the Indian Head cent. This was the first time that an American President appeared on a US coin. The Lincoln cent had on its reverse two sheaves of wheat around the denomination and legend.

The first official cents were issued in 1793 and they were called as large cents owing to their size as compared with the modern US cents. The minting of the large cents continued until 1857 and then it was officially replaced by the modern-size one-cent coin.

The very first ‘small cent’ had the Flying eagle on its obverse and the denomination on its reverse. From 1859 to 1909 the traditional Native American “Indian head” adorned the obverse of the cents.

The new design of the cents in 1909 featured on its obverse an effigy of Abraham Lincoln and the reverse depicted two sheaves of wheat framing the denomination and legend. Hence these pennies are known as "wheat cents." This was the first time that an American President appeared on any US coin.

Later from 1959 until 2008, the design on the reverse was changed to the Lincoln Memorial to honour the President on his 150th Birth Anniversary. On some of finest specimens the Lincoln statue can be clearly seen inside the memorial. The Lincoln Memorial cent design continued till 2008 and later was replaced by commemorative issues celebrating the bicentenary of Lincoln’s birth.

The new commemorative cents issued in 2009 had four different reverses.

• Birth and early childhood in Kentucky: this design features a log cabin.
• Formative years in Indiana: this design features a young Lincoln reading while taking a break from rail splitting.
• Professional life in Illinois: this design features Lincoln as a young lawyer, standing before the Springfield Illinois State Capitol.
• Presidency in Washington, D.C.: this design features the half completed Capitol dome.

And from 2010 till present day a new design was thought of. This design is a symbolic representation of Lincoln’s dream of a united and single USA. The present day in circulation cents have the effigy of Lincoln on its obverse and the reverse features a Union Shield.