My Two Cents Worth (despite only being offered a penny for my thoughts)

I'm not sure where I've been for the last year, and I'm no numismatist, but it never really registered with me that the U.S. Mint issued four new penny back designs in 2009 to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. I think I once noticed something different--ironically while I was visiting Lincoln sites in Springfield, Illinois--but I didn't ever realize that there were four separate designs, as shown below.



But now that I know, it seems like a cool idea and the four designs are all pretty stellar, aesthetically and in commemorating major aspects of Abe's life. I bring this up because I just read that the U.S. Mint has issued a new penny back design for 2010, as shown at left. To me, this one isn't as much of a success.

With a little reading on the U.S. Mint website, I did learn that there is a bit more going on here than meets the eye. The 13 vertical stripes of the shield represent the states joined in one compact union to support the federal government, represented by the horizontal bar above, and the union shield was used widely during the Civil War. But at face value--one cent, I guess--and in truth, even after knowing all this, it's just boring.

I mean, the number of talented artists looking for work could probably form a line stretching from Springfield to Washington, and this is the best the Mint could come up with?

Honest Abe, I think they should have just reverted to the classic back. Clean, simple, powerful, and allowing for the discovery--at some point in one's youth--of Abe's sculpture being clearly discernible in the midst of his memorial. For my money, pennies or otherwise, the new version is relatively worthless.