The
United States one-cent coin, commonly known as a
penny, is a unit of
currency equaling one-hundredth of a
United States dollar. The cent's symbol is
¢. Its
obverse has featured the profile of
President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the
centennial of his birth. From 1959 (the
sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth) to 2008, the
reverse featured the
Lincoln Memorial. Four different reverse designs in 2009 honored Lincoln's 200th birthday and a new, "permanent" reverse – the Union Shield – was introduced in 2010. The coin is 0.75 inches (19.05 mm) in
diameter and 0.0598 inches (1.52 mm) in thickness.