NEW 2010 LINCOLN CENT LAUNCHED

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V13 2010 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 13, Number 7, February 14, 2010, Article 24

A Chicago TV station published the following note on its web site before this week's U.S. Mint ceremony launching the new 2010 cent design. -Editor

President Lincoln's backside will look a little different from here on out. That's because the "tails” end of the penny is about to get a makeover.

The United States Mint Thursday launches the nation's new Lincoln "Preservation of the Union” one-cent coin.

The mint is replacing the image of the Lincoln Memorial with a union shield and a scroll draped across it. The US Mint website describes the new look as "… emblematic of President Lincoln's preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country.”

The penny's design was changed last year when the mint issued four commemorative designs to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birth. But before that, the penny hadn't had a makeover since 1959.

To read the complete article, see: The Penny's Backside Gets a Makover (www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/The-Pennys-Backside-Gets-a-Makover-84103352.html)

Coincidentally, Thursday was the first day I received a 2009 cent in change. Where are all those new coins hiding? They sure aren't circulating much. Will it take TWO years before I see the new shield reverse circulating?

Ya gotta love the popular press. Numismatists will cringe twice at that headline with "Penny's backside" instead of "cent's reverse", and that's before we get to the mis-spelling of the word makeover.

Mother Nature had other plan for the event, however. -Editor

Stating the obvious for anyone near Washington, D.C., the planned Thursday coin exchanges at the Union Station and the U.S. Senate's credit union for the new 2010 Lincoln Shield Cent have been canceled. Information is not available at this time as to whether the exchanges will be rescheduled.

The Washington area has been hit by a fierce winter storm for the second time in less than a week. For the first time in history, the federal government on Thursday closed for a fourth straight day. The DC winter has already entered the record books for the snowiest ever, surpassing the 54 inches that blanketed the city in 1898-1899. Highways, schools, flights and mass transit have been shut down.

Since I live in the D.C. suburbs, I can attest to the magnitude of the storms. As I mentioned last week, the first one knocked out our power and dumped two and a half feet of snow on us. This week's storm added another foot. We survived it all unscathed, but navigating around town is still tricky. Our kids have had a blast playing in it, though.

Anyway, the Mint issued a press release about the launch event itself, which was held in Springfield, Illinois. Here are some excerpts. -Editor

United States Mint Director Ed Moy launched the 2010 Lincoln "Preservation of the Union" One-Cent Coin today during a special ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM).

On the eve of the launch ceremony, Director Moy met with local coin enthusiasts at ALPLM, where he answered their questions and shared information about the United States Mint and its coin programs.

The reverse of the 2010 and beyond Lincoln cent was designed by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Associate Designer Lyndall Bass and executed by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Joseph Menna. The design depicts a union shield with a scroll draped across and the inscription ONE CENT. The 13 vertical stripes of the shield represent the states joined in one compact union to support the federal government, represented by the horizontal bar above. The horizontal bar features the inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM — "out of many, one" — while the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is depicted along the upper rim of the coin.

The obverse (heads) continues to bear Victor David Brenner's likeness of President Lincoln that has appeared on the coin since 1909.

Temperatures were in the teens Thursday morning but that didn't stop a host of out-of-state residents from trekking to the state's capitol to be among the first batch of people to purchase a newly-minted Abraham Lincoln penny.

Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana were among the states represented at the unveiling of the new coin, which came on the eve of Lincoln's 201st birthday. The line to purchase the pennies formed as early as 5 a.m. and wrapped around the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum shortly before the ceremony kicked off at 9:30 a.m.

"When you talk about the Lincoln penny, you have some very passionate people who love Lincoln and that is why they follow this. But you also have people who love coin collecting," said Edmund Moy, director of the United States Mint.

Some were willing to go to great lengths to get an early glimpse at the coin. Justin Pettyjohn, for instance, traveled seven hours from Louisville, Ky., to Springfield, arriving at 3 a.m. He staked out in a Wal-Mart parking lot with his stepfather, Mike Arndt, before traveling to the museum at 8 a.m.

The event was a gold mine for coin collectors like Arndt, who has been collecting since he was a child.

To read the complete article, see: Unveiling of new Lincoln penny attracts crowd (www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois
/article_641250f8-174d-11df-9f19-001cc4c002e0.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor