My Dad used to collect coins. He had boxes of them. They weren’t really organized or anything, but he would pull them out and tell us about them sometimes — steel pennies from World War II, wheat pennies with pictures of wheat on the back, the dates and the mint marks. He even took us to the U.S. Mint in Washington DC when we went there on vacation one year.
The penny was first made in 1792. It was larger then — about the size of a quarter, and was made of pure copper. It stayed that way for a while. The next big change was in 1857, when the size was reduced and it was made of copper with 12% nickel added.
There were several designs on the coins over the years. The first coins had the image of a woman that symbolized liberty. In 1857 there was a flying eagle and a wreath on the “tails” side. Next came the “Indian Head” design in 1859, which continued through 1909, when the Indian Head was replaced by Abraham Lincoln. Copper was needed during World War II, so in 1943 pennies were made of a zinc-coated steel.
Congress passed a bipartisan bill to discontinue the manufacture of pennies called the Common Cents Act after President Trump signed an executive order telling the Treasury Department to stop production of pennies. The bill addresses some of the questions involved in the phase out. For instance, transactions will need to be rounded up or down to the next 0 or 5, so that pennies will no longer be needed for paying in cash. Prices that end in 1 or 2 will be rounded to the nearest 0. Prices that end in 3, 4, 6, or 7 get rounded to the nearest 5. So if that piece of candy costs 3 cents, it is now a nickel. If it is $12.98, it is now $13.00.
It will be interesting to see how the value of pennies changes as their number is reduced. They will still be worth .01 in a store, and can still be used, but the collector’s market may give them a higher value. There is one extremely rare penny that is currently in circulation that is worth $2.3 million, called the 1943-D Lincoln Bronze Wheat Penny. Check your change. It will be several years until the pennies we use everyday are really hard to find as they gradually drop out of circulation. I’ll miss them.
