A new penny to debut next year will feature Abraham Lincoln standing outside the Old State Capitol. Or maybe not. It’s the Civil War all over again, with the emphasis on civil.

“This has been going on now for about a year,” said Beth Deisher, editor of Coin World magazine, where controversy over the Lincoln penny has been front-page fodder for months. “It’s been fairly controversial.”

Heads is easy: The current portrait, in use since 1909, will remain. Tails is tough.
The U.S. Mint has come up with dozens of ideas for the backs of four pennies to commemorate the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 2009. Pursuant to an act of Congress, one of the pennies must depict Lincoln’s early life in Kentucky, where he was born. The second is supposed to show his formative years in Indiana. The third will reflect his life in Illinois, and the fourth is supposed to represent Lincoln’s presidential years. Read Full Story