 The Presidential $ 1 Coin Act required that the cent , beginning in 2010 , " shall bear an image emblematic of President Lincoln 's preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country " . On April 16 , 2009 , the Commission of Fine Arts ( CFA ) met and recommended a design that showed 13 wheat sheaves bound together with a ring symbolizing American unity as one nation . Subsequently , this design was withdrawn because it was similar to coins issued in Germany in the 1920s . The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee ( CCAC ) also met and recommended a design showing a Union shield with ONE CENT superimposed in a scroll ; E pluribus unum was also depicted in the upper portion of the shield . 
