The government is penny pinching. I mean, pinching the life out ofthe once noble copper coin. If you haven’t seen it already, the back ofthe 2010 penny looks as like it came from a novelty store. It gives penny dreadfulnew meaning.
From a field of 18 designs prepared by the United States Mint, thebest they could come up with for the reverse side of President Lincoln’scoin was a union shield that is so tacky it might have been drawn by aConfederate?
The union shield features thirteen vertical stripesjoined by a single horizontal bar at the top with the inscription ‘EPluribus Unum’ (Out of many, one). This symbolizes the originalthirteen states joined together in a single compact union. A scrollappears across the shield with the denomination ‘One Cent’ and ‘UnitedStates of America’ appears above the shield.
Designed by US Mint Artistic Infusion Program Associate DesignerLyndall Bass and engraved by US Mint Sculptor-Engraver Joseph Menna, itis supposed to to represent Abe Lincoln’s preservation of the UnitedStates. And that’s a great tribute, but does it have to look socounterfeit? We all know a penny won’t buy anything, but just for oldtime’s sake, some of the other designsdesigns (below) showed a little more respect for our storiedcurrency. The 2010 Lincoln Cent design selection was made by the UnitedStates Secretary of the Treasury after review and input from the UnitedStates Mint, Commission of Fine Arts, and the Citizens CoinageAdvisory Committee. Hey brother, can you spare design?
