This 2001 cent is one of 4,959,600,000 cents struck that year in Philadelphia, whose coins carried no mint mark. Figures like that show just how much of an everyday coin the American cent was.

The obverse carries Victor David Brenner’s profile of Abraham Lincoln, on the cent since 1909. The Lincoln Memorial reverse was designed by Frank Gasparro for Lincoln’s 150th birthday and struck from 1959 to 2008.

Since 1982 the cent has been made not of bronze but of copper-plated zinc: copper accounts for only 2.5% of the coin, and such cents can be told from bronze ones by weight. After 2008 the Memorial gave way to four reverses for Lincoln’s bicentennial, and from 2010 a shield took over the reverse.

The coin fills the 2001 slot in a date run of Lincoln Memorial cents, a type struck for half a century.

Uncirculated (UNC): the coin has never circulated, shows no wear and keeps its mint lustre; only light marks from bank bags are possible.

VPcoins is a coin and banknote shop where collectable value comes first.