2009 Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Birthplace Cent

2009 Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Cent, Obverse - Click to Enlarge

To commemorate the birth of the sixteenth President of the United States 200 years ago, the US Mint has created four new pennies to be released in 2009. The first of these is the 2009 Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Birthplace Cent.

The Birthplace Cent was released into circulation on February 12, 2009 with a ceremony held in Hodgenville, Kentucky (near the birthplace of Lincoln). An estimated 1,500 attended the launch and exchanged their money for 10,000 rolls of the new design.

Each bank-wrapped roll consisted of 50 coins from the Mint in Philadelphia. In March, the Mint started selling two-roll Birthplace sets for $8.95. These sets had special a special Mint wrapper with one roll of 50 coins coming from the Mint in Philadelphia and one roll from the Mint in Denver.

Unfortunately for many, the two-roll sets were only available for a couple of weeks. As few of the pennies seemed to be making it into circulation, this left only the secondary markets for people to collect them, for which they had to pay a significant premium.

Lincoln Birthplace Cent Design

2009 Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Birthplace Cent, Reverse - Click to Enlarge

Obverse design: The obverse of the 2009 Lincoln Cent series still contains the very familiar image of Lincoln facing to the right, as Lincoln Cents have done since their introduction in 1909. It was designed by Victor Brenner. Also seen are the inscriptions "IN GOD WE TRUST," "LIBERTY" and "2009."

Reverse design: A log cabin is seen on the reverse of the Birthplace Cent. It is meant to signify the place where Lincoln was born as well as his humble beginnings. It was designed by Richard Masters and sculpted by Jim Licaretz and includes the inscriptions "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," "ONE CENT," "E PLURIBUS UNUM" and "1809."

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