We have all seen them, the Lincoln Memorial penny! First minuted in 1959, they were minted for almost 50 years and are still in circulation. Even though they are fairly new as far as coins go, it's amazing how much history they contain and how enjoyable they are to collect. This series was very innovative, in that it was the first American coin to feature the same person on both sides of it, where Lincon can be seen sitting in the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse, with his bust on the obverse. This series of coinage first came out in 1959 to celebrate 150 years since Lincon was born, and to celebrate 50 years since he was first put on the penny, The obverse contained the same Lincon bust as did the wheat back pennies, but the reverse was changed to feature the Lincon memorial. This part of the coin was designed by Frank Gasparro, who was one of the most famous coin designers in American history. Frank was born in 1909, exactly 100 years after Abraham Lincon was born and just 24 days after they started to produce the Lincon Penny. Ever since he was young, he had a love for art where he started pursuing this passion by working for the works projects administration in the 1930s. Later, he became an assistant engraver to John R Sinnoh where he helped work on minor tasks associated with various designs that were being produced at the time.! Eventually, in 1956 he went on to become the chief engraver of the US Mint. In 1958, it was announced that the reverse of the penny was going to be changed, where a competition was held amongst engravers and employees to design the reverse of the new coin, where his design was selected! His initials are located on the reverse of the coin, near the bottom right of the memorial, where even though he was first criticized for this, it was a feature that many people really liked about the coin. The Lincon Memorial penny was originally composed of 95% copper and 5% zinc, but in 1982 they changed the composition of the coin to be 97.5% zinc with just a very thin layer of copper atop it, due to the rising copper prices at the time. Interestingly, you can still find copper versions of the Lincon Memorial cent in circulation, where they have a melt value of about 1.7 times their face value. Although it is illegal to melt them due to their legal tender status, I personally think that they will be traded in a similar way that 90% silver will, especially considering the sharp premium is charged for copper bullion. Additionally, every day they are making more zinc pennies are being produced, while more and more copper pennies are being taken out of circulation. I remember one time I searched through an entire box of pennies, and at least 40 of them were from 2017 where I would have definitely found more copper pennies if it were 2016. Personally, I average about 5-6 or 7 copper pennies per roll, which is a figure that is ever decreasing. One thing that is really interesting about the series, is the relatively minor changes in the design throughout the series. As you can see, in general, they put more detail on the penny but vastly decreased the relief in order to increase the number of coins that they could mint with a single pair of dies. In my opinion, this means that the odds are there is going to be a more specialized market for die varieties in the Lincon Memorial series in the future, but we will just have to see what happens. Thre are currently no rare key dates in this series, where everyone can still be found in circulation; (you might have some trouble finding the proof only San Fransisco issues). They are going to be common for hundreds of years unless something happens to cause them melted in mass quantities in the future, but that is unlikely to occur.
Additionally, there are numerous very collectible errors and varieties, with hundreds of different double dies, and varieties that command a premium. Additionally, if you find versions that are uncirculated than you also have something that is worth more than their face value. They currently trade for one cent apiece, except for those minted in 1959, those sold for their copper content, and those in mint state. This makes them great to collect, and a fantastic investment as well which is something that everyone can appreciate! The Lincon Memorial cent is one of the most widely produced and loved coins that was ever made in America. They are easy and fun to collect, especially considering that you can still find them in circulation. There are many opportunities that abound with this series, which makes it, in my opinion, the best coinage series ever produced, despite how new many of them are. file:///C:/Users/brand/Downloads/google1e750597dd8642a3%20(3).html
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Author: Brandon Spiegel.
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