I just stumbled onto this story by accident and thought I would pass it along. I dump all my pocket change into a pint glass every day, and when it gets full, I let a certain relative go through the quarters she needs for her state quarters collection. The rest is poured into a coin rolling machine and converted to bills at a bank.

Last night, we discovered a new penny design, so I put it in my pocket to carry around as a lucky penny. While getting out of the van in the UAB student center parking lot, I dropped the penny on the wet asphalt. When I went to pick it up, I found another identical new penny on the ground. I didn’t realize it until today when I emptied the pockets of my black jeans that they were identical.

Now I have two of the new coins as lucky pennies. I did a bit of Web research, and found out the United States Mint is minting and issuing four different one-cent coins this year in recognition of the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth and the 100th anniversary of the first issuance of the Lincoln cent.

The themes for the reverse designs represent the four major aspects of President Lincoln’s life: His birth and early childhood in Kentucky, from 1809-1816; his formative years in Indiana, from 1816-1830, his professional Life in Illinois, from 1830-1861, and his presidency in Washington, D.C., from 1861-1865.

The two pennies I ended up with are both from the formative years period, like the image included here.

Here’s what the mint has to say about it.

The approved reverse design for aspect two depicts a young Lincoln reading while taking a break from working as a rail splitter in Indiana and includes the inscriptions “United States of America,” “E Pluribus Unum” and “One Cent.” It was designed and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Charles Vickers.

In the fall of 1816, Thomas and Nancy Lincoln left Kentucky for southern Indiana, settling in Spencer County. As he grew older, young Abraham became skilled at using a plow and, especially, an axe. Although the demands of frontier life left little time for formal schooling, his parents instilled in him a love for books and Abraham educated himself by reading such works as “Life of Washington,” “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,” “Robinson Crusoe and The Arabian Nights” all by the age of 11. He could often be seen carrying a book along with his axe.

In October 1818, the family suffered a terrible tragedy when Nancy died from drinking contaminated cow’s milk. For Abraham, whose mother had encouraged him to read and explore the world through books, it was a devastating blow. Thomas later married Sarah Bush Johnston, a kind stepmother who helped raise Abraham as her own.

2009 Lincoln Bicentennial One-Cent Program

Tags: New Penny Minted to Honor Lincoln

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 7:37 pm and is filed under Science News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.