Wheat cent

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A 1937 Wheat cent.

The Lincoln Wheat Ears Cent (sometimes referred to as a Wheat penny, a Wheat Head, or a Wheatie) was a United States one-cent coin produced from 1909 to 1958.

Both the obverse and the reverse were designed by Victor David Brenner, a New York sculptor. Brenner's initials, V.D.B., were included on the reverse of the coin below the two stylized wheat stalks on a limited number of the coins until public controversy forced their removal. Brenner's initials were restored to the obverse, below Lincoln's shoulder, in 1918.

One of the more valuable coins to collectors is the 1909 San Francisco, California-minted "VDB" penny, so-named because the designer's initials were included between the stalks of wheat on the lower reverse side; a limited number (only 484,000) of which were produced before the public outcry at the designer's initials being so prominently displayed. The initials were removed and in 1918 added to the obverse side in greatly reduced letter size. While with a mintage of almost 28 million the 1909 Philadelphia mint VDB cent is quite inexpensive, even poor quality examples of the 1909-S VDB coin bring hundreds of dollars and a high grade mint condition example can sell for $6000 to $12000 or more.

In 1959, to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth, the wheat ears on the reverse of the coin were replaced with a rendering of the Lincoln Memorial by Frank Gasparro.