Lincoln Bicentennial Cents

Four different designers contributed reverse designs for the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial cents, one for each stage of Lincoln's life. The program was the most ambitious single-year cent redesign in the denomination's history, and it required coordinating multiple artists under tight deadlines. Richard Masters designed the Birth and Early Childhood reverse, depicting a log cabin in Kentucky. Charles Vickers handled the Formative Years design, showing a young Lincoln reading on a log. Joel Iskowitz designed the Professional Life reverse, with Lincoln standing before the Illinois State Capitol. And Susan Gamble created the Presidency design, depicting the partially completed U.S. Capitol dome. All four designs were sculpted by Mint engravers, with Jim Licaretz, Charles Vickers himself, Don Everhart, and Joseph Menna handling the sculptural work respectively. The obverse remained Brenner's 1909 portrait, though the Mint made a point of restoring it to something closer to the original 1909 version, sharpening details that had softened through decades of hub copying.