The final of four cent coins struck during 2009 by the US Mint was the 2009 Lincoln Presidency Cent. It featured a reverse design emblematic of the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln has been featured on the smallest circulating coins of the United States since 1909 when the cent coins (also referred to as pennies) were first released with his image to mark the centennial of his birth. They included an obverse portrait of the sixteenth President and a reverse design of two wheat heads, both by Victor David Brenner.
Those coins were struck for fifty years before a new reverse design was added in 1959 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. This new reverse design showcased the Lincoln Memorial found in Washington, D.C.
The coins remained relatively untouched again for fifty years until Congress mandated that four new designs be used on the reverse of the coins in 2009 as part of a bicentennial celebration of the birth of Lincoln. These four designs were to be emblematic of four stages in the life of Lincoln – Birthplace, Formative Years, Professional Life and Presidency.
Each of these four coins were released in 2009 in the order in which the events depicted occurred. Thus, the Birthplace Cent was issued on February 12, 2009 with a ceremony near Hodgenville, Kentucky where Lincoln was born.
On May 14, 2009, a ceremony marked the release of the second coin, the Formative Years Cent, near Lincoln City, Indiana where Lincoln spent most of his youth. Then, on August 13, 2009, the US Mint had a ceremony for the release of the Professional Life Cent in Springfield, Illinois where Lincoln practiced law as well as first delved into politics.
Finally, on November 12, 2009, a ceremony was held to release the Presidency Cent near the US Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Like the ceremony’s before it, the location chosen was appropriate because the reverse design of the coin shows an image of the Capitol Building (although the reverse design depicts the Capitol in the midst of construction as it would have appeared during Lincoln’s term as the sixteenth US President.)
This final reverse was designed by Susan Gamble and sculpted by Joseph Menna.
