The Happy Coin Blog

We recently had the opportunity to offer on and purchase one of the most celebrated (and in some ways, controversial) American coins of all time: the 1909-S VDB Lincoln Wheat Cent.This particular coin is graded by NGC as MS65 Red/Brown and is a stunning example of, given the prevalence of wheat cents in any young person's pocket, possibly the most quested-over single design in American numismatics. The bas-relief of President Abraham Lincoln by designer Victor David Brenner has grown to be …

Since 1909, this coin has been widely considered the most popular collector coin. The designer, Victor David Brenner, placed his initials at 6 o'Clock on the reverse. Designer initials on coins are not that uncommon, however many in the coin realm felt that it was much too conspicuous, and the initials were removed, but not before some coins were struck..and in Francisco only 484K of these were struck, thereby creating (relatively speaking for pennies) the rarity.