PART I. Die Subtypes
Mid-Year Design Modifications:
1909 Lincoln cent; with and without designer’s
initials (V.D.B.)
Definition: In 1909, the familiar Indian Head cent (1859-1909) was replaced by the new Lincoln cent designed by Victor D. Brenner. This new cent was released on August 2nd, 1909 by the U. S. Mint. Immediately the public took exception to the designer’s initials “V.D.B.” on the reverse of the coin, even though the initials of Longacre, Morgan, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens had previously appeared on other denominations (Indian Head cent, silver dollar, and $20.00 gold piece).
On August 5th, 1909 Treasury Secretary MacVeagh ordered production of the Lincoln cent suspended. Assistant Treasury Secretary Eliot Norton met with the Mint’s chief engraver Charles Barber and ordered that the coins be struck without Brenner’s initials. Even before new dies were prepared, a few old dies had the designer’s initials removed by crude tooling, the signs of which are quite obvious. Coins struck by these dies are highly sought-after.
After a small delay, on August 12th, 1909, the Lincoln cent was again struck at both the Philadelphia and San Francisco mints, but this time without Brenner’s initials on the reverse of the coin. During the time that the Lincoln cent was being struck with reverse dies bearing the designer’ initials, a total of 27,995,000 were coined by Philadelphia mint and 484,000 by the San Francisco mint.
**** CAUTION ****
The 1909-S V.D.B Lincoln cent is one of the most heavily counterfeited of all coins. Randy Campbell, who is the head grader at Independent Coin Graders, has seen a rather large influx of counterfeit 1909-S V.D.B. coins presented to him for grading at coin shows he appears at. Unfortunately, Campbell has also encountered an even larger amount
of counterfeit 1909-S Indian Head cents.
Use extreme caution when buying 1909-S V.D.B cents, key or semi-key coins that have not been authenticated by a reputable grading company or attributer.
All images are courtesy of Heritage Auctions.