You know the first Lincoln Cent was minted in 1909. You know Lincoln Cents were struck at Philadelphia (no mint mark) and at San Francisco ("S" mint mark). You know Victor David Brenner was asked by President Roosevelt to design the Lincoln Cent and Brenner's itinials (V.D.B.) were placed on the bottom of the reverse, but do you know he wanted his whole name on the coin? Mintages: Philly = 27,995,000 for circulation ; 1,194 proofs. Frisco = 484,000 business strikes I'm sure you know two things contributed to the removal of the initials from the Cents: 1) public outcry over the prominence of Brenner's initials. 2) animosity between the mint's employees and Victor Brenner. When Brenner submitted his first designs of the proposed Lincoln Cent he wanted his whole name placed on it instead of one or two initials. Brenner and the employees (especially Charles Barber, Chief Engraver) had many battles about this and the coin's reverse design. After months of heated arguments, the Treasury Secretary, who had final say over coin designs, got into the debate and arbitrated a deal to place those Large "V.D.B." initials on the reverse of the new Lincoln Cent. However, Fate had other plans. That public outcry we heard about rekindled the animosity the mint employees had for Brenner and production of the cent stopped in August 1909. It seems the mint's Director, Frank Aleamon Leach and other mint officials called Barber in for a meeting on, "What to do?" Barber proposed a vote be taken among all the employees about that, "What to do?" Apparently Brenner had no friends at the meeting and the employees voted to remove the initials. Do you know why the initials were placed back on the Lincoln Cents in 1918? Barber died on February 18, 1917 and George T; Morgan became Chief Engraver. Morgan thought a coin designer's initials should be on the coin/s he/she designed. Since the Secretary of the Treasury struck a bargain with Brenner promising those three initials, he came up with an idea. To placate the public and to show understanding to the mint's employees, he suggested to the then Mint Director, Raymond Thomas Baker, about placing very tiny initials (including the periods) in a very inconspicuious place. Mintages: Philly = 72,702,618 for circulation; 2,352 proofs. Frisco = 1,825,000 business strikes; Okay, we established your knowledge of the 1909 Lincoln Cents, BUT where are Victor David Brenner's initials on the following Lincoln Cents: 1910 Bronze? 1918 Bronze? 1943 Zinc coated Steel War Cents? 1959 Copper (Lincoln Memorial reverse)? 1982 Copper? 1982 Copper Plated Zinc? Here's photos of the reverses of the 1909 V.D.B. and the no-V.D.B. Cents (courtesy of Coin Page): V.D.B. http://www.coinpage.com/coin-image-2505.html No V.D.B. http://www.coinpage.com/coin-image-7352.html There were no designer initials placed on any Lincoln Cent minted in 1910 through 1917. Every Lincoln cent from 1918 right up to 2008, no matter it's composition, has Brenner's initals on it. All three Capital letters including the periods (V.D.B.) were miniaturized and placed on the bevel of Lincoln's shoulder. Take a look at this obverse photo of a 2007 Cent (Coin Page): http://www.coinpage.com/large.php?tImageId=7529 NOTE: 1959 Cents received a new reverse (Lincoln Memorial) designed by Frank Gasparro and, though Brenner's V.D.B. initials are still on the slant of Lincoln's shoulder on the obverse of all Lincoln Cents minted since, Gasparro's FG initials are on the reverse to the (our) right of the monument. There are four new reverses for 2009. Did you enjoy this trivia? Clinker - Numismatic Fun Website. Quizzes Updated 1-3-09 http://clinker.bravehost.com/page5.html
Great trivia, I was not aware Brenner wanted his whole name on the coin and not just his initials. Now the ensuing conflict with Barber makes more sense.
Is there any record (a drawing) of what the cent would have looked like with Brenner's full name on it? Was the proposed design with the name the same as it is now or entirely different?
To davidh I never found a pattern, essai or trial strike of one. As I understand it, his full name would have been on the reverse in lieu of those large V.D.B. initials. Does anyone else know different? Clinker
Great post as usual Clinker. Edit this one for the sake of accuracy, though, lest some YN comes along and thinks they had D.V.D. players back then.
