1907 Abraham Lincoln Centennial Plaque. Bronze on Green Marble. By Victor David Brenner. Cunningham 24-060, Smedley-83. Extremely Fine. This 7 x 9 inch bronze plaque is mounted on an 8.5 x 11 inch slab of dark green and beige marble and features a half length side view of the President in a formal suit, the image taken from an Anthony Berger photograph taken in February, 1864. Below the bust is the inscription ABRAHAM LINCOLN / 1809-1865. Near the lower right corner and extending upwards is an additional inscription COPYRIGHT 1907 BY V.D. BRENNER as well as an arrow in an oval logo and the date 1907. The inscription S. KLABER & CO. / FOUNDERS N. Y. is found in small letters on the lower left edge of the plaque. The face of the plaque has an even dark bronze patina, and the field is finely stippled, as made. There are no scratches or damage of note, and the marble slab is free of the small edge chips that so many of these plaques have. The bronze component is attached to the marble by brass screws at each corner, but one of the screws is missing. The integral bronze easel stand is intact and functional. This impressive and rare plaque is the perfect display piece for any historians or numismatists desk.The familiar portrait of the Lincoln cent, the longest running coin in U.S. history (1909-) had its beginning by pure chance. President Theodore Roosevelt was sitting for a medallic portrait with Lithuanian-born sculptor Brenner when he noticed a plaque similar to this displayed in the artists studio. Roosevelt had a goal of making U.S. coinage more artistic and mused about using Brenners Lincoln portrait on the one cent piece in 1909, the 100th anniversary of Lincolns birth. The rest, as they say, is history. From the Richard Jewell Collection.
