Gary's 20th Century Type Set
1c LINCOLN WHEAT 1909 V.D.B.

Owner Comments:

When building a type set, I like to collect either the first or the last coins in a series. This red/brown MS-64, 1909 VDB Lincoln Cent is an example of this coin’s first year of issue and a one-year variety. Because of public outcry over designer Victor D. Brenner’s initials prominently showing on the bottom of the cent's reverse, the US Mint removed them in 1909 in effect creating two varieties and mints. For example, to collect a complete set of Lincoln Cents you need the 1909 and 1909-S VDB, and the 1909 and 1909-S cents. In 1918, the mint restored Brenner’s initials to a less conspicuous place on the shoulder of Lincoln’s bust. This 1909 VDB cent with a mintage of 27,995,000 is the poor man’s version of the VDB variety when compared with the scarcer 1909-S VDB and a mintage of 484,000. The Lincoln cent, introduced in 1909, commemorates the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.