Lincoln Shield Cents 2010 to Date

About This Series

Lyndall Bass's Union shield reverse debuted in 2010 as the permanent successor to the four bicentennial reverse designs of 2009, pairing with Victor David Brenner's 1909 Lincoln portrait to create the longest-running obverse design in United States coinage history. The shield design features a prominent Union shield with a horizontal scroll inscribed ONE CENT, flanked by the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. Production volumes have been enormous, with Philadelphia and Denver combining for billions of cents annually, though certain dates have seen reduced mintages attracting collector attention. The 2017-P marked the first time a P mintmark appeared on a Lincoln cent, issued for the Mint's 225th anniversary. Struck in copper-plated zinc (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) on 19mm planchets weighing 2.5 grams, these coins continue the compositional standard established in 1982 when rising copper prices forced abandonment of the traditional bronze alloy. While individual Shield cents carry negligible numismatic premium in circulated grades, the series offers collectors opportunities through proof strikes and the pursuit of error varieties including off-center strikes, doubled dies, and wrong planchet errors across high-volume production runs.