The Lincoln Cent – A Coin of Many Compositions

The Lincoln Cent is the one cent coin currently used in the United States. The obverse design featuring a bust of Abraham Lincoln has been used since 1909, making the design the longest used on any circulating US coin. During the coin’s long history, it has had many changes in the composition of the metal used to make the coin.

The original composition of the coin was the standard used for the denomination, which had been established for the preceding Indian Head Cent series. The composition was predominantly copper, giving the coins the brownish red color typically associated with the penny. The exact composition was 95% copper with 5% tin and zinc.

The first composition change took place in 1943. As a response to wartime needs for copper, an act of Congress approved on December 18, 1942 authorized a new composition. The wartime "Steel Cents" were composed primarily of low grade carbon steel base coated with zinc. The coins had a dull gray color, somewhat similar to the silver color of higher denomination circulating coins of the era. During 1943, Mint facilities in Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco produced 1,093,838,670 Steel Cents.

In 1944 the mint resumed the standard copper based composition. Notably, for the years 1944 to 1946, the source of the copper was from expended shell casings used during the war. The composition matched the original with 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, although the zinc component decreased.

In mid 1982, the coin underwent its most recent composition change. This change was in response to the rising price of copper. The new composition was zinc plated with copper, containing 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper. This resulted in a coin visible similar to the original, but at a much lower cost of production.

With current rise in the price of base metals, the value of the current composition of Lincoln Cents is once again nearing one cent. This situation had caused the last composition change in 1982. Are more composition changes in store for the Lincoln Cent?

Michael Zielinski is an internet entrepreneur and coin collector. Find out more about the this coin series at Certified Lincoln Cents.