February 12th marked the occasion of Abraham Lincoln‘s 200th birthday, and the United States is celebrating by introducing new pennies into circulation. Proposed and designed last year, the new coins will bear four different designs on their backs, as shown here.
One of the designs depicts Ol’ Honest Abe reading a book as he takes a break from the manly art of rail splitting, which I believe was a full-time occupation in those days.
Another design displays his famous log cabin home, which he probably built himself. With his teeth.
A third design shows the great statesman (back when there really was such a thing as being a statesman, as opposed to being a politician) gesturing toward the Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, as if to say “This is where I THROW DOWN, yo”.
The final design commemorates the building of the nation’s capitol building, which makes it suspect in my eyes, unless Lincoln had a hand in building it himself, which hey, he might have, I don’t know. He’s Abraham Freaking Lincoln, after all. He wants us to be excellent to each other and party on, dudes. He could do anything.
Incidentally, while we’re celebrating Abe’s 200th birthday, we’re also celebrating the Lincoln penny‘s 100th birthday. I wonder if there’s any connection?
huh, didn’t know that. what was on the penny before ol’ Abe?
Regarding the Lincoln Penny’s 100th birthday, yes there is absolutely a connection. In 1909 the new coin was released to mark the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. In 1959, a new reverse design was released to mark the 150th anniversary. This year in 2009, we have four new designs for the 200th anniversary.
It all fits together very nicely!