C

hanges to the Lincoln Cent design have occurred with regularity on the obverse and with extreme scarcity for the reverse. The obverse changes are a no brainer. Given that the date changes each year, tweaking the design would be a natural byproduct of changing the date. The scarcity of the reverse design changes is somewhat of a shock. Yet it is the reverse, so the design did not need to be changed, and apparently the master hub remained in great shape for 50 years.

For the most part these design changes have gone unnoticed. Since the mint kept few records of such changes, it is left to the numismatist to discover them on his own. For the ardent numismatist, they are diamonds in the rough, just waiting to be discovered. The only known competing designs for the wheat cent are the four 1909 reverses and each design appears to be easily found.

Obverse Design Varieties

Wheat Reverse Design Varieties

For the ardent numismatist, they are diamonds in the rough,
just waiting to be discovered.