Learn About the Lincoln Cent
The Last Great Series: A Collector's Guide to the Lincoln Cent, 1909–2025
THE QUICK FACTS
Learn the essentials about Lincoln Cents
Basics
First issued: August 2, 1909, for the centennial of Lincoln's birth
Final strike: November 12, 2025, at the Philadelphia Mint, closing out the longest-running U.S. coin series
Composition eras:
1909–1942: 95% copper bronze
1943: zinc-coated steel (the "steelies")
1944–1946: shell-case brass
1947–1982: copper alloys again
1982–2025: 97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper plating
Weight & Size
Size: 19.05 mm diameter, ~1.52 mm thick
Weight: 3.11 g for bronze issues (1909–1982), 2.5 g for copper-plated zinc (1982–2025) — a scale is your first authentication tool for 1943/1944 errors and 1982 transitional varieties
Design
Victor David Brenner — and yes, his VDB initials are the reason the series' most famous key date exists
Strike Types
Strike types: Business strikes, proofs (San Francisco for the modern era), and satin-finish mint set issues — plus matte proofs from 1909–1916 that are sleepers in the series
Minting
Mint marks:
Philadelphia (none, except the one-year 2017-P)
Denver (D)
San Francisco (S)
West Point — the 2019-W trio the only W cents ever issued
Why People Buy This Coin
Every budget has a lane: A circulated wheat run costs less than dinner, while registry-grade Red sets reach six figures. Few series scale like this.
The hunt is still alive: Doubled dies, Close AMs, and transitional varieties still surface in unsearched rolls: now a fixed, shrinking resource.
A completed series: The 2025 final strike closed the book after 116 years, and closed series historically command sustained collector demand.
A Coin That Broke Tradition
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
Abraham Lincoln
In 1909, as the nation prepared to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's 100th birthday, President Theodore Roosevelt recruited sculptor Victor David Brenner to design a new coin featuring Lincoln.
The design broke a 117-year tradition. No real person had ever appeared on a regular U.S. circulating coin because the founders viewed that practice as too similar to monarchy. Lincoln became the first historical figure considered worthy of breaking that taboo.
When the coin debuted in August 1909, demand exploded. Crowds lined up to get them, and some people resold the new cents for a profit.
Just weeks later, controversy over Brenner's prominent "VDB" initials led to their removal, creating what would become one of the most famous key dates in coin collecting.
So, What Could One Cent Buy in 1909?
A Daily Newspaper
Major metropolitan daily newspapers, like the New York Tribune, cost one cent per copy.
A postcard stamp
Sending a postcard via the U.S. Postal Service required a one-cent postage stamp.
A Peach or Apple
Fresh individual pieces of fruit from a local cart or market often sold for a penny each.
A Stick of Chewing Tobacco
Small single-serving plugs or pieces of tobacco could occasionally be found for a cent.
Penny Candy
A very popular option for children, a cent could buy a single piece of candy like a fruit-flavored candy stick, a licorice whip, a piece of fudge, or a square of chewing gum.
Frank’s Dining Rooms, a restaurant that operated at 19 & 21 Harrison Avenue in Boston’s South End
These Coins Worked
This is exactly why finding an early wheat cent with full original mint red is a genuine condition rarity, and why a grading gap can mean a 10x–50x price difference.
Walk Through 116 Years of History
Two Centuries of the Lincoln Cent
1909 Unprecedented Debut
Released August 2, 1909, after Philadelphia had already coined more than 22 million of the new cents, the Lincoln cent made Abraham Lincoln the first American President to be featured on a circulating coin — a decision reached by Theodore Roosevelt and the Treasury for Lincoln's 100th birthday. Within weeks, public outcry over Brenner's V.D.B. initials on the reverse led to their removal, and with only 484,000 initialed cents struck in San Francisco, the 1909-S V.D.B. became the most coveted coin in the series.
1943 Copper Goes to War
Nearly all 1943 cents were struck in zinc-coated steel because copper and nickel were needed for the Allied war effort — the only year the Mint ever struck steel coins for circulation, produced at Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco. Experts estimate only about 40 copper-alloy cents were struck by accident when bronze blanks left over from 1942 remained in the press hoppers — creating the most famous error coins in U.S. history.
1955 Doubled Die
A rotation between hub strikings created dramatic naked-eye doubling on the date, "IN GOD WE TRUST," and "LIBERTY." Of the roughly 24,000 examples believed to have left the Philadelphia Mint, many were distributed as change tucked into cigarette packs from vending machines. It's widely credited with launching mainstream variety collecting, and PCGS calls owning one a rite of passage for serious Lincoln cent collectors — examples run $2,500–$3,000 in circulated grades, with a choice MS64RD commanding $15,000 or more.
1959 The Memorial Era
For Lincoln's 150th birthday, Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial design replaced Brenner's wheat ears, which had graced the reverse since 1909. The Memorial reverse would run for 50 years (1959–2008), making Lincoln the only figure to appear on both sides of a U.S. coin — his statue is visible inside the Memorial.
1982 Composition Switch
Rising copper prices made the cent cost more than face value to produce, so mid-year the Mint switched from bronze to copper-plated zinc (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper), dropping the weight from 3.11 g to 2.5 g. The result: seven collectible varieties in a single year (large date/small date, copper/zinc, across two mints) — and a scale became a standard tool in every collector's kit.
2009 Bicentennial
The Mint issued four different reverse designs in one year, honoring both the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth and the 100th anniversary of the cent itself, with each design representing a major chapter of Lincoln's life. Collector versions were struck in the original 1909 composition of 95% copper — a deliberate nod to the series' roots. The Union Shield reverse followed in 2010.
2025 The Final Strike
By 2024, each penny cost nearly four cents to make, losing the Mint $85 million a year. The Treasury ordered production halted in February 2025, and on November 12, Treasurer Brandon Beach struck the final circulating cent at the Philadelphia Mint — ending a 232-year run. The last coins bore a special Omega privy mark and sold in 232 three-coin sets (each with a first-ever 24K gold cent) for $16.76 million at auction. Billions of pennies remain legal tender, but no new ones are coming.
Why the Lincoln Cent Deserves a Spot in Your Collection
United States Treasurer Brandon Beach and United States Mint Acting Director Kristie McNally hold one of the very last Omega pennies after striking.
One of the very last Omega pennies being inspected after striking.
Blank planchets for the very last Omega pennies are displayed and inspected on a tray before striking.
The dies used to strike the very last Omega pennies.
With the final strike in 2025, the Lincoln cent became something rare in numismatics: a complete story.
Its 116-year run — spanning two world wars, the Depression, and the digital age — is now a closed series with a defined beginning and end, and closed series historically hold lasting collector demand.
It offers a lane for every budget, from a circulated wheat-cent run that costs less than dinner to a six-figure registry-grade Red set, and the hunt is still live — doubled dies, Close AMs, and transitional varieties keep turning up in rolls, while every unsearched hoard is now a shrinking resource.
For 116 years, the Lincoln cent was the coin nobody bent down to pick up. Now it's the one everybody wishes they had saved.
The Penny That Never Touched a Pocket
The dual-dated 1776~2026 Lincoln cent is the only penny of 2026 — and the first in over a century you'll never find in change. With circulating production ended in 2025, this collector-only issue is capped at roughly 300,000, a rounding error next to the billions struck in typical years, and it marks a once-in-a-generation event: America's 250th anniversary.
Like the 1976 Bicentennial coinage, the dual date makes it an instant one-year type — a coin every future Lincoln set will need, and the natural bookend to any 2025 final-strike holding. Every Lincoln collection now has a final chapter.
