Collectors Guide to Lincoln Head Cents - Littleton Coin Company

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Frank Gasparro, then an assistant engraver,FrankGasparro,submitted the winning design, which featured the designer ofLincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial reverse Memorialhelped establish Gasparro as a talented engraver. ReverseHe became the chief engraver of the U.S. Mint in1965. Also to his credit are designs for the Eisenhowerdollar, the Anthony dollar, the Kennedy half dollar reverse,and collaboration on Bicentennial coinage.A monument to the 16th Presidentof the United StatesThe Lincoln Memorial itself was first authorized by Congress in 1867, andwas intended to honor Lincoln two years after his assassination. However,the necessary funds weren’t appropriated until 1911. Ground was broken onFebruary 14, 1914 about a half-mile east of the Washington Monument inWashington, D.C. The Greek-style temple took seven years to complete, andwas officially presented to the American people on May 30, 1922.10Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.The awe-inspiring structure features a Colorado marble exterior, Indianalimestone for the three interior chambers, and Georgia marble for the massiveLincoln statue by Daniel Chester French.There are 36 outer columns – one foreach state in the Union at the timeof Lincoln’s presidency. The text ofLincoln’s Gettysburg Address andhis second inaugural address areengraved on the walls within thememorial, preserved for generationsto come.Frank Gasparro’s cent reversedepicts the Lincoln Memorial inremarkable detail. On a well-struck coinDesigner FrankGasparro’s initialsLincoln statue isvisible on theMemorial reverse
without excessive wear, the huge statue of Lincoln is visible between thecolumns. Adding the Memorial with its statue to the cent created the onlymulti-year, regular-issue U.S. coin to feature the same individual on both theobverse and reverse.Gasparro’s initials FG appear prominently on the reverse, just to the rightof the Memorial. This is ironic, in light of all the controversy generated by theinitials of the coin’s original designer, Victor David Brenner. But, this time, nosuch controversy greeted the new design, though some thought that the lowercase O in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA was an error. The small O was, however,intentional, and the same style had been used for the reverses of the Franklinhalf dollar and the Peace dollar.Varieties create collector excitementA mistake that slipped past the mint in 1955 resulted ina variety that got many new people involved in collectingLincoln cents. A working die at the Philadelphia Mintwas improperly prepared, and the cents it struck hadvery visible fully-doubled outlines of the date and 1955 Doubled Die Obverselegend. Known as the 1955 Doubled Die Obverse, alongwith the 1922 Plain cent it is the best known Lincoln cent variety. Other wellknown Lincoln doubled die cents include the 1936, 1958, 1969-S, 1971-S,1972, 1983, and 1995.The discovery of 1960 Lincoln cent Small Date and Large Date varietiesgenerated even more collector interest in the series. People eagerly searchedfor the scarce Small Date. Some of those lucky enough to purchase $50 mintsewnbags of the Small Dates in 1960, sold them for up to $10,000!1960 Large Date 1960 Small Date 1960-D Large Date 1960-D Small DateIn 1960, there were Large and Small Date varieties struck at both the Philadelphiaand Denver Mints. The tails of the 9 and 6 extend further on the Large Date Cents.11
Page 4: 4The Lincoln Cent - Longest Lived a
Page 7: Brenner himself was far more concer
Page 13 and 14: a possible shortage of copper.In 19
Page 15 and 16: Bicentennial Lincoln CentsStandard

Collectors Guide to Lincoln Head Cents - Littleton Coin Company

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