U.S. Lincoln Wheat Steel Cent // Mint State Condition // Deluxe Display Box

The Lincoln cent is an enduring American classic produced for the past 112 years, making it the longest running United States coin design in existence, albeit with modification. In 1905, famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens was hired by the Mint at the request of President Roosevelt to beautify the nation’s coinage. Although Saint-Gaudens successfully redesigned the $10 and $20 gold pieces, he died in 1907 before he could submit designs for the new cent. Consequently, the Mint commissioned Victor D. Brenner in January of 1909 to design a one cent coin honoring Abraham Lincoln on the centennial of his birth. This marked the first widely circulating U.S. coin to feature the likeness of a President, as this concept had previously been considered too monarchical, particularly by George Washington. The obverse featured a bust of Lincoln, while the reverse depicted two stalks of wheat, representing staples of the U.S. economy, flanking the denomination. Brenner’s revolutionary design was approved, and the new coins were released to the public on August 2nd, 1909 with much fanfare. Like the outgoing Indian cent, the new Lincoln cent was composed primarily of copper. However, copper became a critical military resource during World War II, so the U.S. government decided to divert the copper reserves used for manufacturing Lincoln cents to aid the war efforts. At the height of the war in 1943 and with no better options, the U.S. Mint decided to produce the one cent coin in a zinc-plated steel composition as an emergency measure for one year only, with resumption of the ordinary copper composition in 1944. The Lincoln cent continued to feature the wheat stalk reverse until the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 1959, at which point a new reverse depicting the Lincoln Memorial was introduced.
Offered here is a pleasant example of the 1943 emergency war-time issue struck in zinc-plated steel. Each specimen is hand-selected by professional numismatists after screening thousands of coins for quality and eye-appeal. Each coin is housed in an airtight capsule and presented in a plush-lined box with display easel, magnetic lid, and certificate of authenticity. The coin is unconditionally guaranteed to be genuine, dated 1943, and will match the mint state quality of the one shown.