David Margolick: Emancipate Lincoln from the Penny
[David Margolick, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, is the author of “Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink.”]
... [The Lincoln penny, designed by Victor David Brenner.] Since its debut on the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, in 1909, probably no art object in human history has been reproduced more often: by the end of last year, 444,039,035,418 times, and counting. That’s nearly half a trillion images of a benevolent, accessible, vaguely smiling Lincoln — intended, as its designer explained, “to show the sunshine as well as the goodness of his life.” It is a history worth commemorating as Lincoln’s birthday — remember that? — is again upon us. (It’s tomorrow.) Only when you consider the Lincoln penny’s glorious origins can you see how far it has fallen; long after it earned a decent and respectful retirement it must soldier on — burials it’s had aplenty, as a dip into any landfill shows — victim of inflation and inertia, political maneuvering and national vanity....
In New York, the first few Lincoln pennies were issued by the federal sub-treasury — the precursor of the Federal Reserve Bank — in the financial district on Monday, Aug. 2, 1909. By Tuesday, long lines for the coins had already formed. “The big man down in Wall Street yesterday was the man who had a few of the new Lincoln cents,” The Sun reported that Wednesday. “He could have had a fairly good time on 10 of them; he could start a celebration on a quarter’s worth, and for 50 of them there was no reason why he couldn’t purchase a regular jubilee.”...
Only by recalling the excitement a simple coin could generate nearly a century ago, can we see how unforgivably low the coin has fallen in the American mind. Finally, those curmudgeons who complained at the time that the Lincoln penny wasn’t worthy of Lincoln, so roundly repudiated, are at last, incontrovertibly right. To hold Abraham Lincoln hostage to an object of such universal contempt is a disgrace.
What is needed, then, is a new campaign to emancipate Lincoln from the penny. The best way, of course, would be to kill the penny altogether. But if, for reasons of habit or political expedience, we foolishly keep it around, then perhaps it should commemorate some president appropriate to its lowly station, perhaps James J. Buchanan or Andrew Johnson.
In the meantime, let’s move Lincoln — Brenner’s Lincoln — to a new $2 or $5 piece, so that our greatest president can be on the country’s most valuable coin instead of its most reviled one. That would be an altogether fitting and proper way to honor the man, and to celebrate his birthday.
Read entire article at NYT
... [The Lincoln penny, designed by Victor David Brenner.] Since its debut on the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, in 1909, probably no art object in human history has been reproduced more often: by the end of last year, 444,039,035,418 times, and counting. That’s nearly half a trillion images of a benevolent, accessible, vaguely smiling Lincoln — intended, as its designer explained, “to show the sunshine as well as the goodness of his life.” It is a history worth commemorating as Lincoln’s birthday — remember that? — is again upon us. (It’s tomorrow.) Only when you consider the Lincoln penny’s glorious origins can you see how far it has fallen; long after it earned a decent and respectful retirement it must soldier on — burials it’s had aplenty, as a dip into any landfill shows — victim of inflation and inertia, political maneuvering and national vanity....
In New York, the first few Lincoln pennies were issued by the federal sub-treasury — the precursor of the Federal Reserve Bank — in the financial district on Monday, Aug. 2, 1909. By Tuesday, long lines for the coins had already formed. “The big man down in Wall Street yesterday was the man who had a few of the new Lincoln cents,” The Sun reported that Wednesday. “He could have had a fairly good time on 10 of them; he could start a celebration on a quarter’s worth, and for 50 of them there was no reason why he couldn’t purchase a regular jubilee.”...
Only by recalling the excitement a simple coin could generate nearly a century ago, can we see how unforgivably low the coin has fallen in the American mind. Finally, those curmudgeons who complained at the time that the Lincoln penny wasn’t worthy of Lincoln, so roundly repudiated, are at last, incontrovertibly right. To hold Abraham Lincoln hostage to an object of such universal contempt is a disgrace.
What is needed, then, is a new campaign to emancipate Lincoln from the penny. The best way, of course, would be to kill the penny altogether. But if, for reasons of habit or political expedience, we foolishly keep it around, then perhaps it should commemorate some president appropriate to its lowly station, perhaps James J. Buchanan or Andrew Johnson.
In the meantime, let’s move Lincoln — Brenner’s Lincoln — to a new $2 or $5 piece, so that our greatest president can be on the country’s most valuable coin instead of its most reviled one. That would be an altogether fitting and proper way to honor the man, and to celebrate his birthday.