The Penny Floor

[Snowboarder_Bo]

I thought this was cool as hell.

[

Like many young couples, Ryan Lange and Emily Belden were looking for inspiration while deciding how to renovate the bedroom of their South Loop home.

That inspiration finally came from a quick glance at a jar of change.

“We’d been looking up options and were thinking about being green when I said we should just tile the floor in pennies,” Lange, a entrepreneur and self-described design freak, says.

Belden wasn’t completely on board at first, but before she could put her two cents in, the project off and running.

“I came home one day and found a small corner was done, so I thought ‘I guess we’re doing it,’” she recalled.

](http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2013/01/21/16623719-couple-glues-60000-pennies-to-bedroom-floor?lite&lite=obnetwork)

I think it looks awesome!

[Cinnamon_Imp]

It really does!

(even if it is my idea of hell - glued down dropped coins)

[Boyo_Jim]

Oh man, the idiots glued rare coins to the floor too, that could have paid for the whole thing.

[fisha]

I’ve done it. $3.04 per sf. Not difficult, but tedious. Looks great.

[Mnemnosyne]

@Boyo_Jim

Oh man, the idiots glued rare coins to the floor too, that could have paid for the whole thing.

Look at it this way; if they ever need money, as long as those particular coins are glued down in an out of the way place where they’re not being damaged, they can always get them back and sell them.

What bugs me is that it’s probably not all that comfortable to walk on, with all the little gaps between the coins. And it’s a bedroom…I don’t want to have to keep shoes on in my bedroom just so walking on the floor isn’t uncomfortable.

[SeaDragonTattoo]

The pennies are covered with a clear top coat. Think shellac. It’s completely smooth.

[Mangetout]

@Mnemnosyne

Look at it this way; if they ever need money, as long as those particular coins are glued down in an out of the way place where they’re not being damaged, they can always get them back and sell them.

They damaged them in the process of using them:

An estimated 59,670 pennies were used to completely cover the floor, which was then sanded down to a shiny copper sheen and cemented in with a clear coat as smooth as a sheet of glass.

Having said that, if those rare coins were in circulation, they were already being damaged anyway.

[Nunzio_Tavulari]

@Boyo_Jim

Oh man, the idiots glued rare coins to the floor too, that could have paid for the whole thing.

Incredibly stupid decision

In all, 1944 steel cents are fewer in number than their 1943 copper counterparts, and are even more valuable; one such example minted in San Francisco sold for $373,750 in an August 2008 auction held by Heritage Auction

I’m going to guess that the auctioned coin was near-mint condition and the coin they glued and topcoated was poor. This site says

Value: As a rough estimate of this coins value you can assume this coin in poor condition will be valued at somewhere around $77234, while one in “perfect” condition can bring $110334

The 1873 indian head penny is more questionable in value. There are thee varieties. It ranges from $22-$60000 and I suspect that their coin falls somewhere in the sub $500 range.