2009 Presidential Years, Copper

The 2009 Presidential Years copper cent depicts the partially completed United States Capitol dome, symbolizing both Lincoln's presidency and a nation under construction during its most perilous era. Susan Gamble designed the reverse, and Joseph Menna sculpted it for the Mint. The unfinished dome is a historically precise choice. When Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861, the old Bulfinch dome had been removed and the massive new cast-iron dome designed by Thomas U. Walter was still rising above the building. Lincoln insisted that construction continue throughout the Civil War, calling the project a symbol that the Union would endure.

The dome was finally completed in December 1865, eight months after Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre. Lincoln never saw the finished Capitol, but the image of the unfinished dome became inseparable from his legacy. The satin finish copper composition of this coin links back to the original 1909 Lincoln cent, which was itself a revolutionary coin: the first regular-issue United States coin to bear the portrait of a real, identified person. Victor David Brenner designed that original obverse, and his portrait still appeared on these 2009 cents, making the obverse design exactly one hundred years old. Fewer than three million copper specimens were struck, exclusively for Mint collector sets.