Four new reverses on the Lincoln cent (penny) are scheduled to appear in circulation starting February 2009 and will gradually make new appearances throughout the calendar year, in observance of the bicentenniel of Lincoln’s birth. Each design will emulate President Lincoln’s life from childhood up through his Presidency. The composition of these coins will be 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.

The original wheat reverse penny was indroduced in 1909 through 1958 and the latter reverse (Lincoln Memorial) was introduced in 1959.

Resource: Coin World Magazine

A previously unrecorded 1943-S Lincoln cent erroneously struck on a bronze planchet has been acquired by Rare Coin Wholesalers of California. The coin has been certified as AU-53 by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC).

The coin was found in circulation in 1944, by a then teenaged boy who had a penchant for collecting cents. This young man grew up to become a prominent Southern California architect who co-designed the Long Beach Arena in the late 1950s.

After the death of this original owner, the family was doing an inventory of his estate, and this bronze rarity showed its face. It was subsequently sold to the dealer for $72,000.00.

“The 1943 bronze Lincoln cent really transcends a wrong planchet error,” said the president of Numismatic Conservation Services and a mint error consultant to NGC.