Lincoln cent

Lincoln has been on the US cent coin for 100 years! He first was on the wheat ears reverse. Then he was on the Lincoln memorial, too. Then, to celebrate the bicentennial of his birth, the US mint made four different designs on the cent to honor the president.

The wheat ears reverse cent was highly criticized by the public. The Wheat ears cent was the first coin to bear the designer's initials. The public didn't like this. The US mint stopped putting the designer's initials on the coin. This coin lasted from 1909 to 1958. It was made at Philadelphia, Denver, and San Fransisco mints.

Memorial and Beyond In 1959, The memorial reverse was designed. In contrast to the wheat ears reverse, this coin was loved by the public. The metal was changed to zinc in 1982. Then in 2009, The US mint announced that the design of the cent was being changed to 4 different designs. These celebrated 2 things- A century of Lincoln on the cent and 200 years since he was born. In 2010, The design was changed to a shield. The public liked this.