The Indian Head penny design was first issued in 1859 is actuality a representation of liberty wearing an Indian headdress, not an actual Indian. The 1859 Indian Head penny featured a laurel wreath on the reverse. The 1860 Indian Head penny reverse had an oak wreath with a small shield. The Indian Head penny of 1859 and early 1860 show a pointed bust. Those Indian Head pennies made from late 1860 until 1864 have a more rounded bust. Before the release of five cent nickel pieces in 1866, these coins were commonly referred to as nickels or nicks. Later these pennies were called white cents.
During the Civil war, nearly all gold and silver, and even the copper-nickel cents disappeared from circulation. In larger cities, thin copper, cent sized tokens began to be issued by merchants to fill the void left by missing cents. With the Act of April 22, 1864 the government stepped in and issued its own thin, bronze coin and made the issuance of the merchants' tokens illegal. The Indian Head penny obverse was redesigned by James Longace in 1864 and included his initial l on the lower ribbon behind the neck.
The Lincoln cent replaced the Indian head penny in 1909. The Lincoln penny obverse featured a bust of Abraham Lincoln, has been in continuous usage, while its reverse was changed in 1959 to its current design which includes the Lincoln Memorial. The 1909 Lincoln penny was designed by Victor D. Brenner. Between the years of 1909 and 1942 the Lincoln penny had a weight 3.11 grams, composition .950 copper, .050 tin and zinc, diameter 19 mm, plain edge. The mints of Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco produced these Lincoln bronze variety pennies. In 1943 the shortage of copper resulted in the zinc- coated steel pennies. In error some 1943 pennies were struck in bronze and some 1944 pennies were struck on steel.
Wheat Ears reverse 1909 to 1958 and, Frank Gasparro designed the Lincoln memorial reverse 1959 to date. Unlike today’s cent, which is copper plated zinc, wheat cents are made of almost solid copper (95% copper and 5% tin/zinc). In 1958 the US Mint stopped making the Wheat Ears Cent and 1959 they changed the reverse design to that of the Lincoln Memorial.













































