From the first 1793 Large Cent to today’s Lincoln Shield Penny, America’s one-cent coin has featured 11 historic designs, billions minted, and famous key dates like the 1909-S VDB. The Penny remains a cornerstone of U.S. coin collecting, even though production for circulation ended in 2025 after more than 230 years of history.
From the first 1793 Large Cent to today’s Lincoln Shield Penny, America’s one-cent coin has featured 11 historic designs, billions minted, and famous key dates like the 1909-S VDB. The Penny remains a cornerstone of U.S. coin collecting, even though production for circulation ended in 2025 after more than 230 years of history.
Get all the information you need on collecting U.S. pennies with our complete guide!
After the Mint Act of 1792 was signed, it took time to buy the land and build the first U.S. Mint, which opened for full-time coin production in 1793. One of the very first coins struck at the new U.S. Mint, was the new One-Cent coin, known as a Penny. The first circulating U.S. coins in the new America, were copper Large Cents, which were almost 50% larger than the Modern Penny, and was over five times heavier, with a diameter measuring nearly size the of a modern half-dollar today.
Although the design, size, and composition of the cent have changed many times since those first Large Cents, the denomination remained a constant part of American coinage for more than 230 years, until its production for circulation ended in 2025 due to rising production costs. The last penny for circulation was minted on November 12, 2025.
By 1857, U.S. Mint officials realized that the Large Cent’s size, which was designed in 1793, became too large some 60 years later, when consumers wanted smaller pocket change. Americans’ tolerance of carrying around a bunch of heavy, large one-cent coins in their pockets and purses came to a peak when the Large Cent series was discontinued in 1857.
Following the Flowing Hair Large Cent, the next Cent release was the Liberty Cap large cents of 1793, which are considered the classics of early American copper coinage. The large cent Liberty cap cent (1793 to 1796) had several revisions within just 3 years. The U.S. Mint tried a new minting technique, by using a punch for Liberty’s head and cap, allowing for a consistent appearance and faster production.
The replacement for the Liberty Cap design was known as the Draped Bust large cent, first released in mid-1796. In the closing years of the 18th century, early American commerce was transitioning to the new U.S. Coins, and the one cent coin was the cornerstone of daily commerce. Between 1796 and 1807, over 16 million Draped Bust large cents were minted.
In 1808, the “Classic Head” design replaced the Draped Bust, with a left-facing portrait of Lady Liberty, with her curly hair tied with a headband that is inscribed with LIBERTY. Just over one million pieces struck when production began in 18081908, and over the next six years, just over 4.7 million issues were struck by the end of the series in 1814.
The next Cent in the series was the “Coronet” type, also known as the “Matron Head,” which used the latest in mint technology and design innovations at the time. During the 24 years of the Coronet design from 1816 to 1839, the Philadelphia Mint produced a total of 51.7 million pieces.
The Braided Hair Cent was the last Large Cent that began in 1839 and ran until 1857. New steam press technology streamlined the minting process, achieving greater uniformity at a faster minting rate than any of the previous large cents.
The Small 1 Cent coin replaced the Large Cent by giving us the diameter we are familiar with today. The first Small Cents were both thicker and heavier than today's modern penny. The Flying Eagle was short-lived, running from 1856 to 1858, and was quickly replaced with the Indian Head cent in 1859. In 1909, a commemoration of President Lincoln’s birth was minted into the 100th anniversary Wheat Penny. With minor modifications throughout the years, the obverse design of the Lincoln cent is the most enduring coin design in American history as it has been in continual use for over a century.
As the value of the one-cent coin dropped, the Mint released a smaller Flying Eagle Penny design in 1957 that was minted with 12% nickel and 88% copper. The new Flying Eagle pennies were called "White cent" or "Nicks," because the nickel-copper alloy made them look brighter and lighter. After just 2 years, the Flying Eagle Cent was discontinued in 1858.
After the Flying Eagle Cent, the new Indian Cent design was introduced in 1859, that ran for fifty years through 1909. The public loved the simplicity of the coin’s Native American design, so it remained in use for half a century, with a total production of over 1.8 billion pieces. The Indian Head Cent was discontinued in 1909, with the introduction of the Lincoln Cent.
1909 was the Centennial anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s 100th birthday. It was in 1909 that Lincoln Cents were introduced with the iconic portrait of Abraham Lincoln as designed by Victor David Brenner. The reverse featured stalks of wheat, which gave it the nickname, “Wheat Penny.”
During World War II, there was an urgent need for copper to support the war effort. In 1943, the U.S. Mint removed copper from the penny and replaced it with a zinc-coated steel Lincoln cent, which was minted for the first, and only time in U.S. Mint history. This coin stands apart from every other ever minted because it’s magnetic and contains no copper whatsoever.
The U.S. Mint celebrated two events in 1959, the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln cent, and the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. To commemorate this event, the reverse was changed to the Lincoln Memorial design. When the price of copper increased in 1982, the U.S. Mint changed the “copper” composition to a zinc core with a thin copper plating to make the penny recognizable.
In 2009, the Lincoln Bicentennial Cent was issued to celebrate Lincoln’s birth, with four different designs of Lincoln throughout his lifetime. Then in 2010, a new permanent reverse design, the "Preservation of the Union," was released, featuring a Union shield which appears on the reverse all Lincoln cents today.
In early 2025, the government confirmed that the penny's long run was coming to an end. The announcement went public on February 9, 2025, when President Donald Trump told the Treasury Secretary to stop producing new pennies for circulation after the year, following rising costs over the past decade. The expense of making a single penny had climbed from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents, three times its face value.
Then, in May 2025, the Treasury shared that the Mint had ordered its last penny blanks (the discs used to strike coins). Once the blanks were exhausted, no more would be ordered, signaling the end of the one-cent coin. On November 12, 2025, the Philadelphia Mint hosted a small ceremony to strike the last penny made for circulation, marking the end of more than two centuries of issuance.
Although the penny will no longer be made for everyday spending, the Mint plans to continue issuing collector-only versions, so the tradition and history of the penny do not disappear completely.
Copper coins have been the bread and butter of commerce for the everyday citizen for as long as coins have been made. In the United States specifically, copper pennies were among the first coins produced at the U.S. Mint in 1793. Serious collectors of the small denomination coin pursue pennies minted prior to 1982. The reason for this is because after 1982, the U.S. Mint changed the composition from 95% copper and 5% zinc to 99.2% zinc with a 0.8% copper coating.
Pennies are not only considered by many to be an affordable way to begin a coin collection, but they are among the oldest coins minted in the United States as they have been around since the onset of the U.S. monetary system. As a result, they have a rich history in both design and composition. The Lincoln design specifically is the oldest design currently used on American coinage, beginning in 1909 and continuing to this day. There are even half-cent designs that complement the history of the 1 cent until they were discontinued in 1857.
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