Years
Designer
Victor D. Brenner / Frank Gasparro
Composition
Bronze to 1982; copper-plated zinc thereafter
Diameter
19.05 mm
Mass
2.5 g
Thickness
1.52 mm
Edge
Plain
Mints
Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco
Metal
Clad
Design
Unchanged Lincoln obverse; reverse Gasparro’s Lincoln Memorial with the statue visible between the columns. 2009 bicentennial reverses interrupted the type.
History
The Memorial reverse marked Lincoln’s 150th birth year and the 50th year of the Wheat design. Composition changed in mid-1982 from 95% copper to copper-plated zinc when the melt value of a cent exceeded one cent. Transitional 1982 varieties (large/small date, copper/zinc) are a subset collection of their own. Doubled dies of 1969-S, 1972, and 1983/84 keep variety hunters busy. The Memorial cent is the coin of late-century vending machines, parking meters, and cash registers.
Key dates
Varieties
1969-S · 1969-S doubled die obverse
doubled die · key
1970-S · 1970-S small date
design · scarce
1972-P · 1972 doubled die obverse (Die 1)
doubled die · scarce
1983-P · 1983 doubled die reverse
doubled die · scarce
1984-P · 1984 doubled die obverse (ear)
doubled die · scarce
1992-P · 1992 Close AM
design · key
1995-P · 1995 doubled die obverse
doubled die · scarce
1999-P · 1999 Wide AM
design · scarce
1982-D · 1982-D small date copper
transitional · stopper
1990-S · 1990 No S proof
omitted mintmark · key
1974-P · 1974 aluminum cent
wrong planchet · stopper
120 issues