1909 Lincoln Cent - VDB - Uncirculated

The Cent itself is our most circulated coin in the history of the United States of America. But the most famous cent ever made has to be the Lincoln Cent that started 1909. This piece is known for its stunning copper complexion and the profile of one of our most iconic presidents: Mr. Top Hat himself, Abraham Lincoln!

Good Ole’ Honest Abe has not always been on our copper one cent piece (In fact, by 1908 NO president or any other living person had ever been placed on U.S. circulating coinage!), and we had to wait until the year of 1909 to finally get our hands on the soon to be iconic Lincoln cent…and wow, did this coin start off with one hell of a controversy!

As we mentioned above, the Lincoln Cent was the first circulating coin in the United States of America to bear the image of a US President. Already a history making first, this coin was just getting started! The controversy of this piece’s release stemmed from its initial design…or more specifically, the initials of the designer himself that created the new one cent piece!

The copper coins were initially released on August 2 and had the designers initials V.D.B. (which stood for Victor David Brenner) prominently displayed on the back of the coin at the 6 o'clock position…and well, the people of the United States of America were completely outraged!

Their opinion was “This is a U.S. coin…and it is never to be a place for personal advertising!” In response the United States Mint pulled this new design after only a few days of production, making it one of the rarest Lincoln cents ever made in the entire history of the series! The Mint eventually released a “correct’ version of the 1909 Lincoln cent, this time without the initials…because boy, did they ever learn their mistake!