This 1909 round, copper penny shows a portrait bust of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, in profile view facing right. He has a craggy, worn face and there are bags under his eye. He has unruly, wavy hair cut close around his head and a bushy, short beard that covers a jutting chin. His long, prominent nose leads to a thin line of unsmiling lips. There is a prominent, plain ridge around the border of the coin and three inscriptions: In God We Trust, minted in a semicircle just below the ridge at the top; LIBERTY, oriented in a horizontal line at 9 o’clock if the penny was a clock; and 1909, oriented in a horizontal line at 4 o’clock. The reverse side of the coin shows two long thin stalks of wheat curving around the outer ridge of the bottom of the coin and reaching up to meet the words curving around the upper third: E PLURIBUS UNUM. In large letters, in the top half of the coin, the words ONE CENT are minted in two rows centered under each other. In a much smaller font size, in the lower half of the coin, between the wheat stalks, United States of America is engraved in two rows with “United States” centered above “of America”. The coin is too worn to determine whether or not the initials, VDB, of the artist who designed the coin, Victor D. Breener, are included between the wheat stalks on the reverse side as in the original coins minted in the first half of 1909 or, later, in a much smaller font, along the lower border of Lincoln’s sleeve.
Probably a gift from the American politician and diplomat Abram Piatt Andrew (1873-1936) to Isabella Stewart Gardner around 1909. Enclosed in Isabella Stewart Gardner's Guest Book, Volume X (v.1.b.4.21).
Dimensions
1.91 cm (3/4 in.) diameter
Display Media
Cast copper
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Vatichino
Rights and reproductions
The use of images, text, and all other media found on this website is limited. Please review Rights and Reproductions for details.
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.