2009-D Formative Years, Zinc

The 2009-D Formative Years cent in zinc composition reached circulation from the Denver Mint bearing Charles Vickers' design of a young Lincoln reading on a log. Jim Licaretz sculpted the image for coin production. The scene evokes the self-education that would carry Lincoln from a frontier cabin to the White House. In Indiana, Lincoln attended school only sporadically, piecing together perhaps twelve months of formal instruction from teachers who were barely more educated than their students.

What set Lincoln apart was relentless self-improvement. He walked miles to borrow books, studied grammar and rhetoric on his own, and practiced public speaking. By his late teens, he was composing essays and short speeches. When the Lincoln family moved to Illinois in 1830, Abraham struck out on his own, settling in New Salem, where he worked as a store clerk, postmaster, and surveyor while studying law. The Denver Mint's zinc cents bear the "D" mintmark on the obverse. Denver's total bicentennial output of roughly 350.4 million pieces across all four designs slightly exceeded Philadelphia's production. The coin's copper-plated zinc composition, standard since 1982, gives it a slightly different ring when dropped on a hard surface compared to the solid copper version.