Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the
sixteenth President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the
American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery, only to be
assassinated as the war was virtually over.
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to
Thomas Lincoln and
Nancy Hanks, two uneducated farmers, in a one-room
log cabin on the 348-acre (1.4 km2) Sinking Spring Farm, in southeast
Hardin County, Kentucky (now part of
LaRue County), making him the first president born outside the original
Thirteen Colonies. Lincoln's ancestor
Samuel Lincoln had arrived in
Hingham, Massachusetts from England in the 17th century, but his descendants had gradually moved west, from Pennsylvania to Virginia and then westward to the frontier.
1909 One Cent
1909 was a year of many "firsts." U.S. Navy engineer Robert E. Peary became the first man to reach the North Pole. The first transcontinental auto race took place between New York and Seattle, and up in the sky, French engineer Louis Bleriot made the first English Channel crossing in a heavier-than-air machine. The United States Mint was preparing a first of its own: a regular-issue U.S. coin honoring an actual person. Defying a tradition that dated back to George Washington's presidency, plans were made to honor the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth with a new cent featuring a bust of the beloved president.
http://www.coinsite.com/CoinSite-PF/...es/01clinc.asp 
For more than a century, federal officials had followed George Washington's lead and avoided the depiction of presidents, past or present or any other recognizable individuals on the nation's circulating coinage. Thus, when the notion of a Lincoln coin arose, it encountered real resistance from traditionalists. Skeptics and critics were no match, however, for President Theodore Roosevelt. "TR" had a personal interest in revitalizing U.S. coinage. Having pushed through exciting new designs for the four gold denominations, he turned his attention to the cent, where the Indian Head design had held sway since 1859. He was steered in this direction by Victor David Brenner, a Lithuanian emigre with tremendous artistic talent and enormous admiration for Abraham Lincoln. Their paths crossed in 1908, when Roosevelt posed for Brenner for a Panama Canal Service medal. The artist had already modeled a plaque and medal for Lincoln's birth centennial and suggested a Lincoln coin. The president readily agreed and asked him to submit proposed designs. Brenner's obverse design featured a portrait of Lincoln facing right, and for the first time on the cent, the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. Flanking Lincoln's bust on the left was the inscription LIBERTY, with the date on the right. The reverse design showed two sheaves of wheat, one on either side, framing the inscriptions ONE CENT, E PLURIBUS UNUM and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The highest points on the obverse are Lincoln's cheekbone and jaw, on the reverse the tips of the wheat stalks. These are the places to first show wear.
1943 Lincoln One Cent
In 1943, with copper urgently needed for combat-related purposes, the Mint made Lincoln cents from zinc-coated steel.
Due to wartime needs of
copper for use in
ammunition and other military equipment during
World War II, the
US Mint researched various ways to limit dependence and meet conservation goals on copper usage. After trying out several substitutes (ranging from other metals
[1] to plastics
[2]) to replace the then-standard
bronze alloy, it was minted in
zinc-coated
steel. It was made at all three mints,
Philadelphia,
Denver, and
San Francisco. Coins from the latter two sites have respectively "D" and "S"
mintmarks below the date.
Production of the war-time cent was provided for in an Act of Congress approved on
December 18,
1942, which also set as the expiration date of the authority
December 31,
1946. Low-grade carbon steel formed the base of these coins, to which a zinc coating 0.005
inch (0.127
millimeter) thick was deposited on each side electrolytically as a
rust preventative. Unfortunately, this coating was applied to the steel before the blanks were made leaving the rims of these coins extremely succeptible to rust. The same size was maintained, but the weight was reduced from the standard 48
grains to 42 grains (3.1
g to 2.7 g), due to the use of a lighter alloy. Production commenced on
February 27,
1943, and by
December 31 of that year, the three Mint facilities had produced 1,093,838,670 of the one-cent coins. The copper released for the war effort was enough to meet the combined needs of 2
cruisers, 2
destroyers, 1,243
Flying Fortresses, 120
field guns and 120
howitzers, or enough for 1,250,000 shells for large field guns.
1944 Lincoln One Cent
On
January 1,
1944, the Mint was able to adopt a modified alloy, the supply being derived from expended
shell casings which, when melted, furnished a composition similar to the original, but with a much smaller trace of
tin. The original weight of 48 grains (3.1 g) was also restored. Shell casings were no longer used after 1946 and the original composition was again used.
1959 Lincoln One Cent
In 1959, to commemorate the
sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth, the wheat stalks on the reverse of the coin were replaced with a rendering of the
Lincoln Memorial by
Frank Gasparro.
The composition of the coin was changed again in 1962. Mint officials felt that deletion of the tin content would have no adverse effect on the wearing qualities of the coin, whereas the manufacturing advantages to be gained with the alloy stabilized at 95% copper and 5% zinc would be of much benefit. Congressional authority for this modification is contained in an Act of Congress approved on
September 5,
1962.
During the early 1970s, the price of copper rose to a point where the cent almost contained one cent's worth of copper. This led the Mint to test alternate metals, including
aluminum and
bronze-clad steel.
Aluminum was chosen, and in 1973, a total of 1,579,324 such coins were struck (dated 1974) and ready for public release. A few were distributed to members of the US Congress. Subsequently; aluminum was rejected because, among other reasons, it would not show up on
X-rays should it be swallowed.
In mid-1982, the coin's composition changed again to copper-plated zinc. The last all-copper cents were produced by the Denver Mint on
October 22,
1982. These copper-plated coins, which are still being produced today, contain 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, and are minted on blanks produced for the Mint by an outside manufacturer (
Jarden Zinc Products). This coin is identical in size and appearance to, but at 2.5 grams is lighter than the 3.11 grams of copper cents issued before 1982, but this modification saves the Government an estimated
$25 million in metal costs every year. (Both types were produced that year and all are common.) The zinc core can be readily seen if the copper plating is abraded or otherwise scraped off.
2008
Thus, 2008 will be the 49th anniversary, and last year that the Lincoln Memorial will be on the U.S cent.
[10] This redesign was passed as part of the
Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, which also mandates that in 2009,
numismatic cents will be issued for collectors that have the metallic copper content of cents minted in 1909. In 2010, the cent's reverse will be redesigned again, with a new, permanent design being released into circulation. The redesign will bear an image that is emblematic of Lincoln's preservation of the United States as a single and united country. Lincoln, however, will remain on the obverse, though a new obverse design is possible. For now, the composition for circulating issues will remain copper-plated zin.
2009 New Lincoln One Cent Reverse 
Hybrid Mode
