Pennies aren’t real money. They are cheap ass tokens, produced at the behest of math-phobes and the zinc lobby.
But the only thing that’s changed in the last 35 years is the design. They’re made of the exact same stuff in the exact same way. (I remember that people swore up and down that the state quarters felt lighter even though they weren’t.)
I second that. In fact I would swear the one set of plastic play money I had as a kid used an almost identical design.
Some 2017 pennies are being minted with a P mint mark. The 2017-P Lincoln cent became the first-ever United States one-cent coin to bear Philadelphia’s “P” mintmark. Worth looking out for.
I found a 1944 wheatie in my change today. That’s 10 years older than I am which makes it OLD. Good condition at best; probably worth about 15 cents.
Asspennies. Nobodies mentioned asspennies. I sure as hell won’t.
You may be surprised to hear that the zinc pennies are actually heavier than the copper ones: 3.11g vs 2.5g.
But they are not made in the exact same way. the new “shield” pennies are stamped with less relief; which, counter-intuitively, makes them feel thinner. the face and the monument used to feel thicker than the edge; now the whole cent feels as just one thickness.
mc
that’s because Canada doesn’t let lobbyists run things.
Canada has glow-in-the dark scenes printed on coins that are substantial in size, weight and complexity. Perhaps the OP’s conundrum could be solved if the US Mint produced similarly substantial coins with glow-in-the-dark nudie scenes on them.
(And the answer to the obvious questions are that yes, the blue-green glow-in-the-dark printing does wear off, and no, the gold-coloured-metal-coin-within-a-silver-coloured-coin almost never pops out.)
D’oh! I meant the Lincoln Memorial was on the reverse. I know better than that.
How well do they smash on the railroad track?
About a nickel’s worth of entertainment.
I wish they would have put pictures of bumblebees on the back. that way you’d say “give me five bees for a nickel.” Now where was I…
Nitpick time. The mint mints pennies, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing prints dollar bills.
It looks like it’s a copy of the 1786 New Jersey copper coins.
Well, it was once, but then they made the state quarters for New Jersey and South Dakota.
And there’s one advantage to the copper-clad zinc design for pennies: If you cut a small notch in the edge, then you can drop them in hydrochloric acid and hollow them out, which is pretty cool.
Since the melting point of zinc is lower, you can hollow them out with a lighter while gently holding with some needle nosed pliers. Uh… don’t try this at home kids.
Why do we still have pennies and nickels. Pennies are a rediculous thing to still be making and using and honestly nickels really aren’t worth it either.
Since the production cost of both the penny and the nickel exceeds the face value, it’s absolutely correct to say they’re not worth producing or using (even aside from the fact that you really can’t buy anything for a penny, a nickel or a dime).
I noticed this recently when I found a penny that was left outside for quite a while. It didn’t even look like a penny, I thought it was a one of those cheap-ass tokens like the OP mentioned.
Who asked for your two cents
People are talking about asspennies, I’m not, but I hear people are. Are there asspennies out there? I don’t know, could be; it’s what people are saying, maybe it’s true. But I’m not gonna talk about it.