Coins are beautiful items, worth much more than simply face value. You can enjoy the physical beauty of the coin, considering it’s strike and luster. But if you look deeper, you can see a whole lot more.

Coins represent history. Many of our nation’s coins have an historical significant attached to them.

Lincoln Cent - Obverse

Take for example the Lincoln cent. First minted in 1909, it commemorated the birth of Abraham Lincoln in 1809. Designed by Victor David Brenner, the bust of Lincoln on the obverse has remained mostly unchanged for the last 100 years.

This is one of my favorite coins to collect. With a hundred years of production, and from three different mints, the Lincoln cent can turn out to be a very large collection. And finding the older varieties in a high grade can be quite challenging. This is a collection that may take years to complete: to find just the right coins that catch the eye, and look great in my album. It’s a challenge worth the effort to complete.

Wheat Reverse

The reverse of the coin displayed two stalks of wheat until 1958. This was a simple design bearing two wheatheads in memorial style. Between these, in the center of the coin, are the denomination and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, while curving around the upper border is the national motto, E Pluribus Unum, Latin for “From Many, One.”

My favorite variety of the Lincoln cent is the Wheat back. When buying rolls of cents to dig through and find certain dates, I tend to keep “Wheat Pennies” no matter what grade thay may be. I just have a special place in my heart for these beautiful coins.

Lincoln Cent - Steel

In 1943, the United States Mint ceased production of Lincoln cents in the normal fashion. Instead of coining cents in the normal copper alloy, they were produced with steel. This allowed the copper to be used in the war effort. Steel cents are an interesting variety in the Lincoln cent era.

Steel cents are dfferent enough that they catch the eye quickly. High quality examples of 1943 cents tend to stand out dramatically in any collection. And the history that they represent is breathtaking.

Memorial Reverse

On February 12, 1959, fifty years after the coin’s origination, and 150 years after the birth of Lincoln, the reverse was changed to a design containing the Lincoln Memorial.

The imposing marble Lincoln Memorial provides the central motif, with the legends E Pluribus Unum and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA completing the design, together with the denomination. In his book Theory and Practise of Numismatic Design, Steve Crooks states that because the Lincoln Memorial is shown in sufficient detail to discern the statue of Lincoln on the reverse of the penny, Abraham Lincoln was the only person to be depicted on both the obverse and reverse of the same United States coin until the release of the New Jersey state quarter in 1999, which depicts George Washington crossing the Delaware River on the reverse.

And finally in 2009, the Lincoln cent will be released with four different reverses. These four designs, unveiled September 22, 2008 at a ceremony held at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., are:

Log Cabin Reverse

• Birth and early childhood in Kentucky – this design features a log cabin and Lincoln’s birth date 1809. This penny was released into circulation on Lincoln’s 200th birthday, February 12, 2009, at a special ceremony at LaRue County High School in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln’s birthplace. It’s been nicknamed the “Log Cabin Penny.”

Indiana Reverse

• Formative years in Indiana – this design features a young Lincoln reading while taking a break from rail splitting. Nicknamed the “Indiana Penny,” it is scheduled for release on May 14, 2009.

Illinois Reverse

• Professional life in Illinois – this design features a young professional Lincoln standing before the state capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. Nicknamed the “Illinois Penny,” it is scheduled for release on August 13, 2009.

DC Reverse

• Presidency in Washington, D.C. – this design features the half completed Capitol Dome. This fourth penny is scheduled for release on November 12, 2009.

And in 2010, yet another redesigned reverse for the Lincoln cent will be minted that “shall bear an image emblematic of President Lincoln’s preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country,” and so the Lincoln Memorial reverse will be replaced.

The history represented in just this one denomination of American coin is staggering.

1909 Lincoln Cent

And yet, take yet a deeper look. There is more history to be found, or envisioned. When you are holding a Lincoln cent from 1909 in your hand, you can almost imagine what it was like when that coin rolled out of the coin press a hundred years ago. Imagine what it was like in San Francisco, or Denver, or Philadelphia in 1909.

And while that penny was in circulation, think about all the world events that took place. That cent was in someone’s pocket during World War 1. It may have been donated to a war cause during World War 2. It might have been in a coin roll in a bank while the US was in Vietnam. It may have been circulating through the stores, or in a collector’s safe when the Berlin Wall fell. It’s seen the greatest times, with great men and women like Teddy Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush.

And it’s witness the worst of times, and even worse people. It existed during Hitler and the Holocaust; it suffered silently with America through the racist civil rights battles of the 1960s in the South; it was bearing mute witness during 9/11.

And now you are holding it, as it faces unimaginable future events. What else might it see?

If that coin could speak, what would it tell you? It has a lot for us to learn. Are we willing to listen? That coin hold much more value than the “ONE CENT” printed on it’s back.

Dig into your pocket. Look at your change. What history might you find in your pocket?

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