The Lincoln Union Shield Cents first appeared from the United States Mint in 2010. They served as an end to a series of quickly changing reverses for the cent coins (sometimes referred to as pennies) which started the previous year to mark the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States.
Lincoln was first seen on the smallest circulating coin in 1909 when he was added to celebrate the centennial of his birth. That design marked the first time a former President had been featured on a coin of the United States and would remain relatively unchanged for fifty years. It included an obverse portrait of Lincoln by Victor David Brenner and a reverse showing two heads of wheat, also by Brenner.
In 1959, to acknowledge the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, the reverse was changed to showcase an image of the Lincoln Memorial found in Washington D.C. After that, the design of the cent coin remained relatively unchanged for another fifty years.
Then, at the direction of the United States Congress in Title III of Public Law 109-145, the United States Mint created four new reverse designs for the cent which would be emblematic of four different stages in the life of the President and would all be released in 2009 to mark the bicentennial of the birth of Lincoln. These four coins included the Birthplace Cent, the Formative Years Cent, the Professional Life Cent and the Presidency Cent.
Congress further directed that upon the completion of the four previously mentioned 2009 Lincoln Cents, a new reverse would be created for 2010 and future years which would feature a reverse that "shall bear an image emblematic of President Lincoln’s preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country." This Lincoln Union Shield Cent is that final coin.
The Lincoln Union Shield Cent still shows Victor David Brenner’s portrait of Lincoln on the obverse as has appeared on the cent coins since 1909. However, the reverse of the coin now shows the image of a Union Shield by Lyndall Bass to represent Lincoln’s preservation of the Union.
