Release of Lincoln penny draws 2,500 fans

EVANSVILLE, Ind., May 15 (UPI) -- Some of the more than 2,500 people who attended the release of the so-called Indiana Lincoln penny say the new coin is a rare treat.

Coin collector Donnie Mangel told the Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press Thursday's official release of Indiana's new commemorative coin featuring the late U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was a dream come true.

"This is a lifelong dream (an Indiana penny)," he said while attending the release in Indiana's Lincoln State Park. "I've been collecting pennies since I was 10 years old."

Coin dealer Jim Elsmore, who traveled all the way from Las Vegas for the event, said the new U.S. Mint offering is currently a rare treat for collectors.

"Eventually, they're going to be common as dirt, but right now it's supply and demand," he told the Courier & Press.

The newspaper said the coin is part of a 2009 series of four pennies honoring Lincoln by featuring various stages of the former president's life. The Indiana penny shows Lincoln as a teenager sitting on a log reading.