Why does the portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the penny face to the right when all other portraits of presidents on U.S. circulating coins face to the left?
The likeness of President Lincoln on the penny is an adaption of a plaque executed by Victor David Brenner, an outstanding portraitist and sculptor.
President Theodore Roosevelt was so impressed with Mr. Brenner's design of a Lincoln plaque that he recommended to the Secretary of the Treasury that the design be placed on a coin to be issued in the Lincoln Centennial Year, 1909.
The direction that Lincoln faces on the cent was not mandated -- this was simply the choice of the designer.
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