who was on the penny before lincoln

Before Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. one‑cent coin (what people casually call the “penny”) featured the Indian Head design. This “Indian Head cent” was in use right up until it was replaced by the Lincoln cent in 1909 to mark the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.

Quick Scoop

• The coin before Lincoln was the Indian Head cent , designed by James B. Longacre.

• It showed a representation of Liberty wearing a Native American headdress, not a specific real person.

• Indian Head cents were minted from 1859 to 1909, when the Lincoln design took over.

So if you were jingling coins in your pocket in the early 1900s, just before 1909, the face on your “penny” would have been that Indian Head design, not Lincoln.

TL;DR: The coin before the Lincoln penny was the Indian Head cent , showing Liberty in a Native American headdress, used up until 1909.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.