Finally, The Mint Has Released An Expensive New Coin

Coins are hot right now. Every night on television, Montel Williams attempts to sell us commemorative Obama coins. That loud guy is still selling complete sets of state quarters, which I believe he has been doing since 1984.

And now, just in time for Valentine’s Day, the U.S. Mint has released a coin currently selling at around $1240. I know what a certain special someone is getting on the 14th! (An Obama coin set.)

The 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin is the subject of a new exhibit at the U.S. Mint right here in Philadelphia. There’s a story behind the UHRDEGC, a reproduction of a 1907 $20 gold coin, but none of it is as interesting as the fact that the mint has a new coin on sale.

New Penny Designer Is Abraham Lincoln Reincarnated

Are you in to coin collecting yet? No? Well, the U.S. Mint is going to try again: In 2009, there will be four new designs on the back of pennies.

As you can see from the two examples in the photo, they’re lavishly detailed; one of them features a 50-foot tall Lincoln that kinda looks like a young Ralph Nader! (I think I’m the only one who thinks it looks like him.) The other has Lincoln as a young railsplitter, reading a book (Infinite Jest, most likely). But, as the Inquirer’s Peter Mucha explains, that particular penny was designed in Philadelphia!

As a teen, Charles Vickers, a sculptor/engraver for the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, had to split firewood using a wedge and a wood-headed hammer called a maul.

So, a few years ago, when the mint assigned him to submit one of four new designs for the penny, an image immediately came to the Jenkintown gentleman’s mind: Lincoln’s reading a book while taking a break from splitting logs with a double-banded maul.

I’m pretty sure this guy actually is Abraham Lincoln. I have to imagine there’s a way to get from president to mint engraver in two or three reincarnations. FYI: Pennies now cost more than a penny to mint; our nation’s only hope for fiscal solvency now is the collected wealth of coin collectors buying mint condition pennies at premium prices.

New penny designed partly in Philadelphia [Inquirer]