"We used to start kids with Lincoln pennies," Mr. Gambino said.

He is alarmed when he reaches into one and finds a Lincoln penny with a mint date of 1979.

For others, it was the great coin craze of the 1960's, when new Lincoln pennies were sold for dollars as great investments.

But it may not be their numbers that endear Lincoln pennies to us.

His Lincoln photographs have been used for the $5 dollar bill and the Lincoln penny.

His first public success was the Lincoln penny, which he designed in 1958.

A local tradition later developed of placing Lincoln pennies on top of Scott's gravestone for good luck.

Four new Lincoln pennies were released to honor the 2009 bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

It is the Lincoln penny.

Once again, merchants began giving Lincoln pennies away, though now, not to lure customers in but to hasten their sales and rush them out.