Learn More About U.S. Cents

The U.S. cent, or penny, was one of the first coins struck by the U.S. mint in 1793. At that time, pennies were much larger than today’s modern cent coins. These “Large Cents” were made of copper and measured nearly the size of a half-dollar in diameter. Smaller one-cent coins entered into America’s economy in 1856 during the pre-Civil War era with the production of Flying Eagle pennies from 1856 to 1858, followed by Indian Head pennies from 1859 to 1909. The Lincoln penny was first struck in 1909 and originally featured the iconic Wheat Penny design with two sheaves of wheat on its reverse side. In 1959, the wheat design of the Lincoln penny was replaced with a depiction of the Lincoln Memorial.