BOOK REVIEW: THE 1909 LINCOLN WHEAT CENT

Congratulations to Shawn Tew on the publication of not just an insightful book on a classic American coin, but an important exploration into variety collecting overall. The 1909 cent is and has been an American classic for generations, but few know the aspects of the coin's history from the perspectives this book offers. Tew starts by giving us insight into the transition between the Indian cent and Lincoln cent designs from within the mint, and the inner dynamics between engravers at the time – inner workings which were not always smoothly collaborative.

Shawn's book is extensively researched, exploring the now-known varieties of reverses for the 1909 cent. Thanks to recent discoveries, and the author and collaborators exploring the rabbit hole of this area of study, substantial detail is documented in the pages of this book which has not appeared elsewhere. The research is new, and the publication of this book will certainly draw attention to the 1909 cent, even more so than it has had for the last 100+ years.

The book is easy to read, and the research has been quite thorough exploring letters and history between engraver Charles Barber who was in his late 60's around the time this Lincoln cent transition happened, and the talented young Victor David Brenner, just 38 at the time of the letters. The book describes the seeming distaste that Barber had for Brenner. We get to read those letters and can see that Barber offers a tone to Brenner which is patriarchal at best and condescending at worst. Barber describes details about the minting process that Brenner already would likely have known and was clearly pulling rank.

The book is an excellent study on varieties overall in that it gives the backstory for how this particular series of varieties came about. And there are more coins to explore than just the two reverses (this is the rabbit hole). The book shifts the study of varieties from being one of classification of types, to being an exploration of how those types came to be. We read how the master hubs during the transitional year in 1909 for the Lincoln wheat cent created two different reverses but what is truly fascinating is that the majority of work on the reverses of the 1909 cent was not done until just recently. A grand hoard of uncirculated cents was put away in August of 1909, which allowed research on finely detailed parts of the reverses of these coins to take place only recently.

This book explains that process and offers historical analysis and does so in great detail during its 114 pages. To the reader, it becomes apparent throughout that there are always discoveries to be made, regardless of how old the coin is or how much research has been done. Certainly the 1909 VDB and 1909 S-VDB cents have already had their share of attention over the last century.

This book sheds new light on new research and is an important part of the story of American coinage and of variety collecting - and also of errors – overall.

The book even explores the intersection of technology and numismatic research in describing advanced microscopy exploration of the Type One and Type Two reverses known for the 1909 cent.

Overall, this book is recommended for anyone interested in numismatic research, analysis of varieties, or history. Tew offers new insights into the reverses of these seemingly old cents and provides new historical and numismatic context on a level that has not been done with this particular issue before.

The book is available in hardcover on Amazon.

Interested in error and variety coins? Join CONECA!
https://conecaonline.org/

For more information, or to order, see:
The Rabbit Hole of the 1909 Lincoln Wheat Cent [Print Replica] (https://www.amazon.com/Rabbit-Hole-1909-Lincoln-Wheat-ebook/dp/B0CDHKT891)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE RABBIT HOLE OF THE 1909 WHEAT CENT (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n30a10.html)
NEW BOOK: THE 1909 LINCOLN WHEAT CENT (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n33a04.html)

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