The 1909 Lincoln Cent with “S VDB” and “VDB” has a fascinating history that contributes to its rarity and value. Here are some of the most interesting details behind its design, its political controversy, and of course some of my favorite examples.

1. History of the 1909 Lincoln Cent
2. 1909 Lincoln Cent Mintage Statistics
3. 3 Fun Facts about the 1909 Lincoln Cent
4. Examples of the 1909 Lincoln Cent

History of the 1909 Lincoln Cent

In 1905, Teddy Roosevelt contracted with American artist Victor David Brenner (VDB) to redesign the cent, in hopes of honoring the centennial celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. The United States mint started with the VDB Philadelphia cent, using Lincoln as the portrait. This also made Abraham Lincoln the first US president to be used for circulating currency. The coins were released on August 2nd, 1909 with the designer initials as in this sample reverse below.

The designer's initials became a controversial subject on the afternoon of August 2nd. A few high level treasury employees felt as though the initials were a sign of advertising. On August 5th, 1909 the production of the VDB initialed cents were stopped and a 14 day die change-over took place to produce the 1909 P & 1909 S. The 1909 S VDB had an initial population of 484,000 produced.

The 1909 S VDB cent is one of the 100 most sought-after coins in American coinage history, and of the Lincoln Cent series, is the best to own for historical context and individual value.

1909 Lincoln Cent Mintage Statistics

1909 VDB Mintage	28,700,000
1909 S VDB Mintage	1,825,000
1909 S Mintage	1,825,000
1909 Mintage	73,700,000

3 Fun Facts About the 1909 Lincoln Cent

• There were 484,000 of the 1909 S VDB cents produced. For comparison, In 2009, the US mint produced a total of 1.1 billion pennies for Philadelphia. The staggeringly different numbers produced between 1909 and 2009 are what makes these coins so unique!

• The 1909 VDB was so popular at initial release that some sold for 25c apiece - a  2500% return! While it is not common to see original bank wrapped rolls of 1909 VDB Lincoln cents today, some do exist and they are vastly more expensive than the 25c each in 1909.

• The VDB initials were finally completely removed from the 1909. However, the 1918 Lincoln Cent has VDB initials placed on the shoulder on the obverse of the coin.

Examples of the 1909 Lincoln Cent

This 1909 VDB Lincoln Cent, certified by PCGS is graded a lofty MS67+RD (Out of 70, so you could say a 67.5/70 with 70 being perfect) and resides in the #3 registry set and is a particularly fine specimen.

This particular 1909 VDB Lincoln is a Philadelphia minted cent with a production of nearly 29,000,000 which is a very low number according to today’s numbers. This version included the designers initials of V.D.B on the reverse side at 6 o’clock like the other 1909 Lincoln Cent released (1909 S VDB).

Here are four red samples:

Sources:

https://coinweek.com/dealers-companies/blanchard/the-1909-s-vdb-lincoln-cent-a-popular-yet-controversial-coin/