TWENTY-Fiffh ANNIVERSARY of the LINCOLN PENNY

L~N COLN LORE Bulletin of the Lincoln National Life Foundation • • • • • • • Dr. Louis A. Warren, Editor. Published each week by The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, of I"ort Wayne, Indiana. No. 277 FORT WAYNE, INDIANA July 30, 1934 TWENTY-FIFfH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LINCOLN PENNY August 2, 1934, marks the twenty This removal of the inscription fifth anniversary oC the Lincoln one nrou~d mucll public interest and "If the Lincoln cent is a precedent cent piece. It replaced the Indian head thousands of prO!Spective rare coin then American money may acquire an penny and wa::; the fin->t coin to usc a ~..-ollectors secured the uv. n. B." coin h1storical value." portrait of A. President authorized by ns their first item. It was e.::;timated Rochester Poet Ezprr~e- the Treasury Department of the Uni· that a total of more than 2,000,000 "No Pre!:tident, with the poSt>ible ex~ t~d Stat¢:;. cents had been released, and venders ccption of Washington, occupies any During 1909, the Lincoln cen~nninl sold them on the streets at three pen· •uch relation to the Amerienn people year, Theodore Roosevelt laid the nies for a. nickel. At one time the ns ju.stit1cs his being memot'alized on corner stone for the memorial at sub-trea•ury in Wall Street was so their coins." Hodgenville, Kentucky, and partici conjested with people attempting to Richmond Times. cxc:hangc c:urrcnc:y for the new cents pated in other celebrations in honor of The negroes, however, thou~:ht that the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's that twenty policemen were ncecssat-y to maintain order. the new cent was made esm;c:•ally !or birth. A bronze profile of Lincoln was them, nnd they called it Emancipa called to his attention which he ad At Boston the demand was so urg· tion Money." Many of the coins they mired very much, and this led to his ent and the supply so limited that had made into ugood luck" charms. approval or a put.tern for a new Lin only 60 Lincoln cents were allowed coln cent. each individual asking for the new The only other coin of the l:lnited The designer of this study of Abra coins. Business houses saw the pu!r States which bears tho likeness of ham Lincoln was Victor David Bren licity value of tho new coins and had Abraham Lincoln is known as the ner, who was born in Shavely, Russia., lhem attractively encased in aluminum centennial half dollar. It is a me in 1871. When he was nineteen year" for pre:;.entation. One collector has morial coin isl';·ued in 1918 in memory of age he came to America and began twenty-eight of these souvenirs dis of the centennial anniversary of the selling matches on the streets of New tributed by ditYerent firms in 1909. State of Illinois. On the obverse side York City for a living. He studied art is a bust portrait of Lincoln facinv; Both the Philadelphia and San right and on the reverse a conventional at Cooper Union in the evening und Fruncisco mints issued the ne\v Lin~ eagle. cvcnt.ually succooded in saving enou~h coin cent in 1909, and the following money to continue his studies in Par1s. year the n~nver mint joined the other Although but nine years had inter· In 1907 he made a profile in bronze two in producing these coins, and an vcned between its issue and the ap of Abruhnm Lincoln using as a model three hnve continued to issue them pearance of the Lincoln cent all an original portrait of Lincoln by from year to year to date. A com~ prejudice against historic:al figure~ ap Brady, taken in 1864. This photo pie~ collection of Lincoln cents pearing on coins seems to have died ~:raph he found in the collection of would include the "V. D. B." 1909 out. There are now to be found many Charles Elliot Norton. The profile was cents from both the Pltiladelphia and commemorative specie bearing not used on n medal which he prepared in San Francisco mints; also the 1909 on1y the portrAits of our own country. 1909 in honor of the c:entcnnial of cents Cram both mints, without tho men but Europeans as well. Lincoln's birth, nnd it was this model initials; and, beginning with 1910, Another feature of the Lincoln cent, which was accepted with but little one for each year from each of the which fl:crvcd as a climax to a wide change as a design for the new cent. three mints. Coins min~d at Den controversy which stnrted in 1907, was Whon finally ready for the mint it ver have A miniature "D" under the the u"• of the inscription "In God We bore the following inscription: date; those minted in San Francisco 11 Trust." During Lincoln's administrn· Obverse sid~lothed , bearded bust a miniature $" in the same location; tion in 1868 James Pollock, Director of Lincoln facintc right. Inscription and those issued from the Philadel of the Mint, submitted to Secretary above bust, "IN GOD WE TRUST"; phia mint have no mint mark. Chase designs for the new one, two, to len or bust, "LIBERTY"; to right In 1863 n design for a two-cent piece and throe-cent pieces on which ho of bust, the da~. beneath which ap with n portrait of Wa~hington was suggested the inscription "God Our pears the mint mark if any. submitted, and in 1866 a bu•t of Lin Trust" be placed. Chase thought the Reverse side-.Two !:tprays of wheat coln was used on a oattern intended expression uln God We Trust" more in n conventional form enclosing in· for a five-cent piece but both were appropriate, and it first appeared in "<'ription in five lines "E PLURIBUS rejected. At that time there was much this form on the two·cent pieces. UNUM 0 N E CENT UNITED prejudice against the use of portraits On March S, 1865, Congress passed STATE OF AMERICA." of individuals on the coins of the coun an act providing that it would be law Upon the reverse side of the coin try. The sentiment created by the ful for the mint to place the motto Drenner had placed, near the rim be celebration of the Lincoln centennial 11In God We Trust" on each coin as tween the two sprnyR of wheat, his in 1909 overcame this prejudice, how· would permit this inscription. Un· ever, and the one-cent piece as already or initials uv. D. B.' 'Vhcn these jnitials d<'r this ~ct the motto appeared on were discovered there was an out· mentioned had the honor of bearing the ten dollar gold piece•. f1ve dollar bw·:ot of disapproval against hnving the first likeness of a President on an gold pieces, the dollar, half dollar, and the initials appear on the coin. Bren American coin. quarter. At that time it did not ap ner did not anticipate the "'volt ns Some of the reactions towards this both the new twenty-doUnr and ten pear on the one~cent piece, however. inovation in the designing of coins Theodore Roosevelt, who had been dollar gold pieces carried the initials follow: of Augustus St. Gaud ens, the design .. largely respons'ble for the appearance cr. There also appeared on the five- uThe Republican institutions arc of the Lincoln bust on the new penny, dollar and tWt)-dollo.r-and-a-half gold toppling and our nation is about to aiRO Jed the controversies about having pieces the initials of Bella L. Pratt, become a monarchy. This new Lin· the motto uln God 'Ve Tru~t" appear U1e artist. The objection was sus· coin cent may be said to mark the fir.-t for the first time on the one-cent tained, however: shipments of pen· visible and outward emblem of the pieces. The inscription is appropriate~ nies were slopped; nnd dies were im· transmogrification or the republic ly placed over the head of Lincoln, as mediately prepared to is.ue the cent with an empire." it was during his administration that without the initials. New Orleans Picayune. it was fir:;t used. .

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