We have all seen them, the wheat back penny. The obverse of this coin has been unchanged, for the most part, for over a hundred years, where the symbolic ears of wheat on the back are loved by so many. This coin has been loved by everyone since its introduction in 1909, and are a piece of history despite the fact that they can still be found in circulation at times. Abraham Lincon was born in the year 1809, in a log cabin on his fathers sinking spring farm in rural Kentucky. Eventually, after a lot of hard work and determination, he became one of the most well-liked, and respected presidents in American history. At a young age, he loved to learn and read, which is something that would carry him throughout his life. His Mother passed away while he was still young, so he had to live with his father whom he considered to be lazy and uneducated. In the 1830s he started to study law, and become interested in politics where he passed the bar exam in 1836. Eventually, he went on to become a part of the Illinois legislature and 16th president of the united states. Throughout the most challenging time in American history, he was able to preserve the nation through a massive civil war and provide freedom to millions of slaves in 1865. Unfortunately, he was assassinated by John Wilks Booth at Ford's theatre, which was a tragic death for a great man. Lincon was first featured on the one cent in 1909 to celebrate 100 years since his birth where he became the first president specific individual for that matter to be featured on an American coin! Prior to this, it was always depictions of Liberty with the exception of the three-cent silver piece, the two cent piece, and the Indian head cent that graced the obverse of coinage. The wheat back penny as we know it obtained its name by the two characteristic wheat ears on the reverse, which was used on the design until 1958. After that point, the reverse design was changed to be the Lincon memorial building, to commemorate 150 years since Lincoln's birth where he then became the first person to be featured on both sides of the same coin in America! The designer of this coin was Victor David Brenner, whose initials were originally on the reverse right underneath the two pieces of wheat, where he was heavily cetirizine for the prominence of this feature. This is especially because, prior to this, the designer of a coin did not put their initials on the coin they designed, and as far as initials go he was fairly large. This caused the mint to remove his genitals, where they were not put back on the coin until 1918 right underneath Lincolns shoulder which is where it still is today. Victor David Brenner was actually born in 1871 to his Jewish parents in Lithuania, where he was given the birth name of Viktoras Baranauskas but changed it to Victor David Brenner in order to obtain American citizenship. In 1890, he immigrated here where he continued to enhance his skills of seal engraving and sculpting, which his father taught him when he was young. These skills were one that he focused on through his entire life, where after he traveled to France to learn more and enhance his skils. He even won some awards at the Paris exposition in 1900, which was a major step in getting him to become the man to design the Lincon cent. In 1907 he designed a plaque that featured the bust of London, which was a design that Roosevelt really liked. He appointed Brenner to design the Lincoln cent based on this design, which turned out really nice despite a lot of people not knowing about their plans. Once they were released, they were extremely popular with the public, so much so that the mint actually had to limit their availability to banks and the general public. Throughout the series, there are a couple of very rare key date coins being the 1909s VDB cent and the 1914 d where there are also numerous semi key dates such as the 1931 s and the 1912 s where there are additional dates that are worth at least ten dollars apiece. Altogether, with the exception of the 1909 s VDB coin, the series is relatively inexpensive to complete where even the key dates can be obtained for a few hundred dollars apiece. One thing that others and myself like about this series, is that examples in pretty good condition can be found in circulation, where pieces from the WWII era have been found by people many times before. In fact, it is not uncommon to hear about finds that date all the way back to the 1930s and even to the 1920s and before! Personally, I will never forget how one time I looked through just $5 in pennies and found 8 of them, with one being from 1942! If you are looking just to purchase an example to have one, you can find them for as little as 4 to 5 cents apice, where an entire roll will cost you just a few dollars. WWII also brings about some very interesting instances in the series, where in 1943 they made pennies out of steel as opposed to copper so they could use the copper that they saved for the war effort. After the war ended, they actually melted down a lot of copper casings to produce pennies, where many people own a piece of history that had a past life of helping to protect our country!
The wheat back series is just about the most popular series of coinage that has ever been produced in America, where people have been collecting and enjoying them since they were first minted. It is amazing to study their history and the impact that they have had in America even though they were still minted during our parents and grandparents lifetime, and are still readily available! By: Brandon Spiegel - Owner and Founder of Let's Start A Coin Collection. file:///C:/Users/brand/Downloads/google1e750597dd8642a3%20(3).html
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Author: Brandon Spiegel.
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