Owner Comments:
The Lincoln cent was introduced to the public on August 2, 1909. According to an article by R. S. Yeoman, who was the original author of the Red Book, the demand for the coin was unprecedented. People lined up at the Philadelphia mint to get the first coins issued, and the limit was two per customer. At the sub-treasury, which acted as the U.S. Government’s bank at the time, the limit was one hundred per customer. Newsboys and others enjoyed a brief but brisk business in selling the new coins for from two to five cents each.
Soon after the coin appeared some people noticed that artist Victor David Brenner had placed his initials at the bottom of the reverse. Some people objected to that which led to the removal of the initials, which created another type for the coin.
Victor David Brenner designed the Lincoln cent. Previously he had designed and marketed a Lincoln medal (shown right) and a Lincoln plaque (shown with the next Lincoln cent. During a modeling secession with President Theodore Roosevelt, Brenner mentioned his Lincoln projects to chief executive. He showed a medal and perhaps the plaque to Roosevelt. The president picked up on the idea, and the project to make the Lincoln cent a reality was born.
A large number of the 1909-VDB Philadelphia cents were saved because they were the first of their kind. As a result this coin is common in Mint State condition, and even fairly common in Red Uncirculated Mint State. Demand for type coins has driven up the prices in recent years. A fairly significant number of the VDB cents from the San Francisco mint were saved as well, but with a lower mintage of 484,000, that issue has gained a reputation among collectors and non collectors that has made that coin a numismatic legend.