Design Changes:

Lincoln Memorial Cent RDV Changes

Lincoln Cent Memorial Reverse Design Varieties

In the course of its 50-year history the Lincoln cent memorial reverse has seen numerous design modifications resulting in seven (7) different design varieties.  The memorial design was first used in 1959 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln and the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln cent.  This first (1) design was used for both circulation and proof coinage through 1968.  In 1969 the mint modified the design by slightly enlarging the designer's initials.  Again this design (2) was used for both circulation and proof coinage from the years 1969 through 1972.  In 1973 the mint again modified the design by greatly enlarging the designer's initials.  Only Lincoln cents dated 1973 carry this third (3) design.  In 1974 the mint reduced the size of the designer's initials.  This fourth (4) design was used from 1974 through 1985 for both circulation and proof coinage.  In 1986 the mint modified the designer's initials again, creating a fifth (5) design.  This design was short lived, lasting only through 1988.  In 1989 the mint again modified the design, by once more changing the font on the designer's initials.  This sixth (6) design was used for both circulation and proof coinage through 1992.  1993 saw the seventh (7) design placed into production.  This design reduced the spacing between the AM of AMERICA and again changed the font of the designer's initials.  This design was used for both circulation and proof coinage for 1993.  However, in 1994 the mint reverted back to its previous design (6) for proof coinage.  Thus for the first time two memorial reverse designs were used in the same year.  Recently a proof style reverse (design 6) was discovered on a 2000 circulation strike coin.  Further research has turned up circulation strike occurrences of this design (6) for the years 1988, 1998 and 1999.  It is currently not known why this has occurred or if the years 1994 through 1997 are affected as well.  None have turned up on Denver issues, though recent discoveries have seen cents from 1992 (unconfirmed by CONECA) and 1992-D with a design 7 reverse.  Also now known are  1998-S and 1999-S proof cents with design 7 reverses.

RDV-001		Philadelphia	Denver	San Francisco	Proof
		1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968	1959-D 1960-D 1961-D 1962-D 1963-D 1964-D 1968-D	1968-S	1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 SMS 1966 SMS 1967 SMS 1968-S
RDV-002		Philadelphia	Denver	San Francisco	Proof
		1969 1970 1971 (ODV-027) 1971 (ODV-028) 1972	1969-D 1970-D 1971-D (ODV-027) 1971-D (ODV-028) 1972-D	1969-S 1970-S 1971-S (ODV-027) 1971-S (ODV-028) 1972-S	1969-S 1970-S 1971-S (ODV-027) 1971-S (ODV-028) 1972-S
RDV-003		Philadelphia	Denver	San Francisco	Proof
		1973	1973-D	1973-S	1973-S
RDV-004		Philadelphia	Denver	San Francisco	Proof
		1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985	1974-D 1975-D 1976-D 1977-D 1978-D 1979-D 1980-D 1981-D 1982-D 1983-D 1984-D 1985-D	1974-S	1974-S 1975-S 1976-S 1977-S 1978-S 1979-S 1980-S 1981-S 1982-S 1983-S 1984-S 1985-S
RDV-005		Philadelphia	Denver	San Francisco	Proof
		1986 1987 1988	1986 1987 1988		1986-S 1987-S 1988-S
RDV-006		Philadelphia	Denver	San Francisco	Proof
		1988 Link 1989 1990 1991 1992 1998 1999 2000	1988-D Link 1989-D 1990-D 1991-D 1992-D		1989-S 1990-S 1991-S 1992-S 1994-S 1995-S 1996-S 1997-S 1998-S 1999-S 2000-S 2001-S 2002-S 2003-S 2004-S 2005-S 2006-S 2007-S 2008-S
RDV-007		Philadelphia	Denver	San Francisco	Proof
		1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008	1992-D Link 1993-D 1994-D 1995-D 1996-D 1997-D 1998-D 1999-D 2000-D 2001-D 2002-D 2003-D 2004-D 2005-D 2006-D 2007-D 2008-D		1993-S 1998-S Link 1999-S Link
RDV-008 (Strengthened Right Memorial Steps)		Philadelphia	Denver	San Francisco	Proof
		1971 (ODV-027) 1971 (ODV-028)	1971-D (ODV-027) 1971-D (ODV-028)	1971-S (ODV-027) 1971-S (ODV-028)	1971-S (ODV-027) 1971-S (ODV-028)

Red = Ex. Rare, Blue = Rare, Pink = Scarce

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Copyright James Wiles, 2011

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