More than 3,000 people gathered at a southern Indiana park for the release of a new one penny (one cent) coin that pays homage to Abraham Lincoln’s years as a young man in Indiana.

Lincoln, who went on to become the 16th president of the United States, spent 14-years in Spencer County, Ind., before going on to lead America though its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, and putting an end to slavery.

One hundred and forty-four years after his assassination, and to commemorate what would have been his bicentenary year, the US Mint has issued a four-design series of Lincoln pennies depicting his life.

The first bicentenary Lincoln penny was issued in Hodgenville in February and depicted his boyhood log cabin. The second coin issued on Thursday depicts Lincoln as a young man in Indiana. The third Lincoln penny in the series will commemorate Lincoln’s days as a lawyer in Illinois, while the fourth will have Lincoln standing in front of a partially built Capital Dome at the time of his inauguration in 1861.

Supplies of the first Lincoln penny in the series were quickly snapped up by collectors and dealers with their value skyrocketing to $US0.25 each or $US10 per roll – compared to a face value of $US0.50 per roll.

About 635 million of the first two Lincoln penny Bicentennial designs will be minted and a Lincoln silver dollar will also be minted this year.