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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;giorgio11, post: 1357848, member: 17094&quot;]The Lincoln cent debuted on August 2, 1909. The various facilities where the new coins were being offered--the Philadelphia and San Francisco mints, the Sub-Treasury buildings in Chicago, Boston, New York, and St. Louis), banks, and the Treasury building in Washington, D.C.--saw long lines of collectors and ordinary citizens eager to acquire examples of the new cents. The new coins featured the initials of the designer, Victor D. Brenner, in small letters on the reverse. When coinage of the VDB cents was halted a mere two days later, a public furor ensued. </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Carl R. Herkowitz writes in the article &quot;The 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent: A Tribute&quot; from the November 1995 <i>The Numismatist:</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&quot;In a swift departure from the past, the 1909-S VDB, more than any other coin or contributing factor, attracted the attention of the larger populace, and in so doing, made coin collecting a public pastime rather than an avocation for just a few. The S-VDB set the hobby&#039;s course for the 20th century, increasing multifold the ranks of enthusiasts and leading to the enjoyment we know today.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>In contrast, the 1916-D dime largely slipped into circulation unnoticed. The entire mintage of 264,000 coins was released in November 1916, then dime coinage was halted for a sudden, urgent demand for quarters. As David Lange writes in his Mercury dime reference, &quot;Before dime coinage could resume, the 1917 dies were on hand and a new year had begun.&quot; Lange points out that the small number of Mint State survivors of the 1916-D were due to the new design being saved in greater quantities (although most of them were 1916-Ps), &quot;thus the 1916-D ... was spared from the otherwise certain fate of being uncollectably rare in this condition.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Again, the 1909-S VDB was a notorious low-mintage issue at the time of its release. One man had 500 Uncirculated rolls of 1909-S VDBs that he sold in 1918 for 1-3/4c each. The 1909-S VDB in Mint State is the key to the Lincoln cent set, but its high price is due to <i>high demand,</i> not <i>high rarity.</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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