The History of the Penny

The penny was one of the first coins ever made by the U.S. Mint, which was established in 1792. The first design featured a woman with flowing hair; it was intended to symbolize liberty. The coin was larger than the modern penny and made entirely of copper (today’s pennies are made of copper and zinc). In 1857, the coin became smaller and the metal composition was changed to 88% copper and 12% nickel. A new design was also rolled out featuring a flying eagle on one side and a wreath on the other. Between 1859 and 1909, the penny featured yet another design known as “Indian head.” In 1909, Abraham Lincoln became the first president to be featured on American coins. The image of Lincoln used on the coin was created by Victor David Brenner; this element of the design is still used on modern pennies. Between 1909 and 1958, the reverse side featured two sheaves of wheat; this was changed to an image of the Lincoln Memorial designed by Frank Gasparro from 1959 to 2008. (Notably, pennies were made of zinc-coated steel in 1943 due to copper being needed for World War II, although a limited number of copper pennies were made that year by mistake.) In 2009, the U.S. Mint issued four different pennies as part of the Lincoln Bicentennial One Cent Program. The modern “Union Shield” theme was first issued in 2010; the obverse shows the same image of President Lincoln used on the penny since 1909 while the reverse side shows a shield representing Lincoln’s preservation of the United States as one nation. The Union Shield design is still in use today.