The designer for the Lincoln Cent, Victor David Brenner modified the whole lot concerning the design of Lincoln Cents by inserting the picture of an actual individual on a coin made for circulation. It was not till 1909 that Victor David Brenner created the legendary bust of Abraham Lincoln that’s so well-known by all of us right this moment.
Probably the most vital a part of the story all comes right down to the initials on the back of the cent. V.D.B. are Victor David Brenner’s initials, the famend designer of the Lincoln cent. Victor David Brenner positioned his initials on the reverse of the Lincoln cent, close to the underside rim on the reverse below the wheat stalks on the again facet.
By inserting his initials close to the underside of the again Brenner began fairly an uproar. The individuals by and huge beloved the Lincoln cent when it was first launched, nevertheless some had an issue with prominence of Brenner’s initials. They principally thought the initials had been too massive and noticeable. The letters V.D.B. despite their small measurement had been noticeable sufficient to create a hullabaloo with the folks and Mint officers, who insisted on their removing instantly. When this was completed in a while in 1909, it resulted within the making of 4 varieties: 1909 (with and with out V.D.B.) and 1909-S (with and with out V.D.B.). The 1909-S V.D.B is the rarest of the 4 varieties and it debuted on August 2, 2009.
Altogether there are six completely different 1909 pennies. There are 4 Lincolns - the 1909 VDB penny with no mintmark, struck on the Philadelphia mint, the 1909 S VSB struck at San Francisco mint, as well as cash with out the designer initials from every mint. There are as effectively two Indian Head cents of 1909, one from the Philadelphia mint and one from the San Francisco mint.
The VDB pennies had been made at Philadelphia and San Francisco. The 1909 S VDB penny is the one made on the San Francisco Mint so it carries the S, which is the mint mark for the San Francisco mint. As a result of reality that there have been so many much less of the S VDB struck, it’s most positively a rarity. With out fail, collectors have all the time paid extra for the 1909 S VDB than for another Lincoln penny, in fact that’s aside from the 1943 copper cent. The variety of cash with the initials made on the S mint was the smallest of all of the 1909 pennies.
Actually, the 1909-S V.D.B. Penny has lengthy been thought of one of many key dates within the collection, filling the goals of collectors younger and previous. You will need to perceive that hundreds of thousands of individuals acquire Lincoln Head Cents and it makes it apparent why the 484,000 mintage could appear excessive, however it isn’t. To be clear there are clearly not a adequate variety of 1909-S VDB Pennies to fulfill all the collector’s calls for.
The worth of a 1909 S VDB cent is round $750-800 in Good, and upwards of two,500 in Uncirculated grades to almost $100,000 in PCGS MS-67 Pink. There have been some badly worn, even broken, 1909 S VDB pennies that may be often discovered on eBay and in numismatic sellers’ catalogs at cheap costs. Click on Right here to see the Value Information for 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cents.
The 1909 S VDB penny is definitely probably the most expensive regular-strike (non-error) rarities of contemporary U.S. coinage. It’s also a kind of cash that has virtually seen all the time upward actions in values for the final a number of many years.