Fa¢elift for a Penny

In honor of today's bicentennial birthday of the 16th prez, the US Mint redesigned the very brownish one-cent coin (penny).

... the 100-year-old Lincoln penny is actually an American artistic milestone: Its debut marked the first appearance of a real person on a US coin...After the nation’s birth, putting a president on a coin “smacked of royalty,” says an expert, so George Washington opposed his own metallic representation.

Instead, generic symbols of liberty appeared on money, which by the 20th century Theodore Roosevelt pushed for the use of an image of Lincoln by a favorite artist. When the pennies appeared in 1909, they were so popular that some sold them for 25 cents. Today, despite their waning appeal, the Mint will update pennies with new backs showing 4 stages of Lincoln’s life:

Early Childhood (KY)

Formative Years (IN)

Professional Life (IL)

Beard Growing Days (DC)