 The selected design was the result of an internal competition among the Mint 's engravers . Gasparro did not go in person to see the Lincoln Memorial , a place he had never visited . According to Anderson , Gasparro created an " impressive " image of the Memorial , however , Taxay states that the design " looks at first glance like a trolley car " . Numismatic historian Walter Breen describes Gasparro 's design as " an artistic disaster " . 
