1959 Lincoln Cent Date Guide

The 150th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln prompted the U.S. Mint to change the reverse of the Lincoln cent to show the likeness of the Lincoln Memorial building standing in Washington D.C. Mint engraver Frank Gasparro, who incidentally was born in 1909 — the same year as the first release of the Lincoln cent — designed this new reverse.

Changing from the wheat cent reverse to the memorial cent reverse was smooth — except in one case. A single example of a 1959-D wheat reverse cent was discovered in California in 1986 and has since been examined and deemed genuine by a number of authorities. Others, however, are not quite so sure the coin can be genuine. The U.S. Mint insisted that they changed the die pairs together, and that no 1959 cents could have been struck with wheat reverses. Whether a clandestine fantasy piece by a mint employee or a true error, the coin still exists, and no others have been found and reported to date. It is still worth the effort to be casually observant of the possibility that more could exist.

This year also had its share of rumors about these 'first' Memorial cents, as is the case with every new series of coinage introduced for over 100 years. A note placed in a 1959 edition of, "Numismatic Scrapbook," says the following:

"Everytime a new coin is placed in circulation up springs rumors that something is wrong with it. The introduction of the Memorial Lincoln cent has brought forth a larger than usual batch.

One of the latest is that the coin will be recalled because it is "lopsided" and won't stack.

However, the Lincoln cent has always had a thin spot below Lincoln's shoulder. The metal to form the raised shoulder has to come from the nearest spot of the rim and field, making the upset edge slightly thinner at that point."

Doubled dies this year are rather few and are scattered as to where to look for them. Some affect the date, some affect LIBERTY only, and some are on the reverse. There is no particular pattern to follow except to look at photos of the known dies and hope for the best. 1959 doubled dies are at least difficult to locate.

Repunched mintmarks, on the other hand, are quite numerous. Over 125 different dies are known, but many of them are rather minor. There is one oddity to mention for this date — a 1959-D cent with what appears to be the lower part of a D punched inside the last 9 of the date. This anomaly has been given a die number by some and rejected as die damage by others, and with at least some merit — there is damage near the rim on the die just outside the date that somewhat matches the reported punch inside the 9. This one has to be left to the collector to decide. Coppercoins.com has it listed as a repunched mintmark until further evidence dictates otherwise.

Overall, 1959 is a fun year to search through, but don't expect very much. The really nice doubled dies and repunched mintmarks are numerous compared to some other years, but the sheer number of surviving coins has spread the nice die varieties thin enough that a person could look through a number of rolls without finding them. Be patient and the gems will eventually surface.