When the Lincoln one-cent coin made its initial appearance in 1909, it marked a radical departure from the accepted styling of United States coinage, as it was the first regular coin to bear a portrait other than the mythical Liberty which appeared on most pre-1909 regular coins.
“Honest Abe” was a nickname that Abraham Lincoln embraced with pride. He believed in his own integrity and worked diligently to maintain his reputation as an honest politician and lawyer –something that was not always easy in either of those fields.
Lincoln pulls double duty as the face on the $5 bill and the penny. In 1909, Lincoln's image was added to the penny as a tribute to the former president on his 100th birthday. There are more pennies in circulation than any other coin in the United States.
1909 V.D.B. Lincoln Penny (1 Cent). This is the oldest Lincoln Cent in the world. It is also called a wheat penny because the obverse side has wheat stalks.
Pennies are not made out of copper, they just have the outer part of it dipped in copper. if they were made out of copper they would be worth far more. A Penny is made of copper. A penny is made of copper because back in the days where the values was based on metals.
At the end of its minting, the U.S. Treasury decided to honor President Lincoln's centennial birthday by putting his image on the obverse (front side) of the one cent coin. The reverse (backside) of the coin featured two wheat stalks and was, therefore, called the Wheat Penny.
birthday. The initials “FG”, for Frank Gasparro, the engraver who designed the new backside, appear on the right of the design, near the shrubbery. In 2009, four new backside designs will be released to honor Lincoln's 200. th. birthday.
A penny is made of copper. The vinegar on the paper towel helps the copper in the penny easily react with the oxygen in the air to form a blue-green colored compound called malachite.
The coin was larger and made of pure copper, while today's penny is made of copper and zinc. In 1857, Congress told the Mint to make the cent smaller and to mix the copper with nickel. People found the smaller cent easier to use. The new cents showed a flying eagle on the front and a wreath on the back.
At the molecular level, chemical changes involve making or breaking of bonds between atoms. What Happens and Why: When a copper penny is heated in a solution of sodium hydroxide mixed with zinc dust, small amounts of zinc dissolve into the surface of the penny.
A penny is not what you think. Indeed, from 1793 to 1837, a cent was pure copper. But newer pennies are made mostly of zinc. The cent was again bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc) from 1864 to 1962, except: In 1943, the coin's composition was changed to zinc-coated steel.
Coin Value: US Fugio Copper 1787. The (A) coin is a superb specimen of a common variety piece sold by Bruun Rasmussen in Denmark for 1700 euros (about $1900 US dollars) during a 2006 auction. The coin would probably sell for $2500 today.
The first U.S. penny sold for nearly $1.2 million Thursday night at an auction in Baltimore.
So for the past 30 years, pennies have been made with an alloy comprised of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, but pennies minted before 1982 are 95% copper and 5% zinc.
Queen Elizabeth's iconic profile faces to the left on postage stamps, perhaps so she can read the postcards, but to the right on all coins. While it seems like a minor difference, it's actually down to a weird tradition going back hundreds of years, according to John Richardson from Brunel University.
President Thomas Jefferson
The Lincoln penny obverse showed the image of Lincoln designed by Victor David Brenner that is still used today. From 1909 to 1958 the reverse featured two sheaves of wheat. From 1959 to 2008, the reverse was an image of the Lincoln Memorial designed by Frank Gasparro to commemorate Lincoln's 150th birthday.
Last year, each penny cost 1.5 cents to make -- about 50 percent more than its face value -- and all the pennies the U.S. Mint issued last year cost it $46 million. It's the 11th year the cost to make a penny has been higher than its face value. The penny is the most expensive coin to make, relative to its face value.
Money: Faces on US Coins
| Denomination | Face on Coin |
|---|
| 1 cent penny | President Abraham Lincoln |
| 5 cent nickel | President Thomas Jefferson |
| 10 cent dime | President Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 25 cent quarter | President George Washington |
It wasn't until 1909, the 133rd birthday of the nation and the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, that a president's face would be featured on a coin. President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to reinvigorate the design of American coins with elements of classically influenced sculpture and art.
Other countries that no longer use the penny include New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden. Despite the change on Monday, electronic transactions can still be billed to the nearest cent.
United States currency notes now in production bear the following portraits: George Washington on the $1 bill, Thomas Jefferson on the $2 bill, Abraham Lincoln on the $5 bill, Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill, and Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill.
It currently costs 2.06 cents to make each penny and 7.53 cents to make each nickel.
It means that the coin was minted at the West Point Mint in New York. D stands for the Denver Mint, P stands for the Philadelphia Mint and “S” stands for the San Francisco Mint.
In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads, because it often depicts the head of a prominent person, and the reverse tails.
A small letter or symbol on a coin used to identify where a coin was made. Current U.S. mint marks are Philadelphia (P), Denver (D), San Francisco (S), and West Point (W). Learn more on our Mint Marks page. The part of a coin's design that is raised above the surface.
What Does “Heads or Tails” Mean? As one person tosses the coin in the air, the other person calls either heads or tails,” Grammarist explains. “Heads refers to the side of the coin with a person's head on it. Tails refers to the opposite side, not because there is a tail on it, but because it is the opposite of heads.”
Most wheat cents (wheat pennies were minted between 1909 and 1956) are worth about 4 to 5 cents. Those in better condition can have double-digit value. Special examples (especially those in near perfect condition) can be worth much more. And pennies dated from 1879 to 1909 are worth at least $1.
Copper Pennies Are Worth More Than Face ValueIn general, all pennies made before 1982 have a composition of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc – with the exception that during some of those years, there was no tin in the alloy. Also, there was the steel 1943 Lincoln cent (and 1944 steel pennies, which were made in error).
