This is the obverse of the U.S. Lincoln Cent. You can see one of the mottos along the top of the coin, "In God We Trust." A motto is a word or phrase that has a special meaning to people, perhaps stirring emotions or inspiring them. Current United States coinage has 3 mottos: "Liberty", "In God We Trust", and "E Pluribus Unum". "E Pluribus Unum" is Latin for "Out of Many, One".
Note the edge of the coin: it has a plain, unadorned surface. The edge is the actual side of the coin, and shouldn't be confused with the rim.
The mint mark is a letter or symbol that tells us where the coin was minted. Mint marks have appeared on coins since ancient Greek and Roman times, and served as a sort of quality-control mark. If the coin was later found to be wrong somehow, such as silver that wasn't pure enough, the King or Caesar would know who to question about this. Today, the mint marks on circulating U.S. coins tell us that the coin was minted in one of the following places:
Denver - D
San Francisco - S (producing Proof coins only)
Philadelphia - P (or sometimes no mint mark)
Certain other United States coins, such as gold bullion and proof coins, bear different mint marks than those above.
