# The Secret Life of Pennies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2019, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596 "2019-03-27T07:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/1 "2019-03-27T07:29:23Z")
And other coins, but mainly pennies. I typically count my change at the end of the day. Important thing to do. Because at the end of the month most of it goes into the Coin Star machine. Anyways, I am shocked by the strange way some coins have fared, despite their date. Some coins are very new. Maybe a year old at most. And they look like they have been thru h\*ll. But that is not the weirdest thing. Just tonight, I looked at my change. And I saw a 1993 penny that looked almost new. Accounting for the fact most of 2019 is yet to come, I assume something made in 1993 is 25 years old (April-December, i.e.). How could a 1993 penny look brand new? Then again, I have a 2018 penny. And it looks like it has been to Hades and back. What gives with these counterintuitive (to use a big word) and conflicting results? :):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/2 "2019-03-27T07:40:42Z")
Maybe it spent a long time in a piggy bank. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/3 "2019-03-27T08:09:59Z")
Someone bought a new sofa? ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/4 "2019-03-27T08:34:41Z")
I guess there must be _some_ people who empty the pockets of their pants before they throw them into the washer! ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/5 "2019-03-27T11:17:37Z")
Pennies can be shiny for quite a long time, iiiffff they’re protected from the elements. I don’t know the circumstances for coins exactly, but copper can be shiny and coppery for a long time. Remember, putting dissimilar metals together can enhance their corrosion ability, and pennies are just the thinnest copper plating over a zinc core. > **[Galvanic series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_series)** > > The galvanic series (or electropotential series) determines the nobility of metals and semi-metals. When two metals are submerged in an electrolyte, while also electrically connected by some external conductor, the less noble (base) will experience galvanic corrosion. The rate of corrosion is determined by the electrolyte, the difference in nobility, and the relative areas of the anode and cathode exposed to the electrolyte. The difference can be measured as a difference in voltage potential: the... ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/6 "2019-03-27T13:51:05Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > I typically count my change at the end of the day. Important thing to do. Because at the end of the month most of it goes into the Coin Star machine. I don’t understand the importance of counting your change at the end of the day. Are you keeping a tally of it and then seeing if it matches the Coin Star tally? If the Coin Star is off (according to you), what are you going to do about it? > [@Jim\_B](#): > > Then again, I have a 2018 penny. And it looks like it has been to Hades and back. I have seen this lots of times. Many of them look very discolored and corroded. Is there like a conspiracy to dump millions of pennies in acid and then spread them around in circulation? I just don’t have the time or energy to spend to disfigure large numbers of coins. Do other people? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/7 "2019-03-27T14:00:35Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > I don’t understand the importance of counting your change at the end of the day. Are you keeping a tally of it and then seeing if it matches the Coin Star tally? If the Coin Star is off (according to you), what are you going to do about it? I do not know the OP’s age, but assumed she was going through the change. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/8 "2019-03-27T14:30:55Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I do not know the OP’s age, but assumed she was going through the change. Pfffft. That doesn’t even make cents. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/9 "2019-03-27T14:37:16Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Pfffft. That doesn’t even make cents. Dollars to donuts! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/10 "2019-03-27T15:21:37Z")
At first, I read the title as \*\* “The Secret Life of Penis…”\*\* :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/11 "2019-03-27T15:40:53Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Dollars to donuts! A penny for your thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/12 "2019-03-27T15:57:21Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > A penny for your thoughts. This is why we need to bring back the half penny. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/13 "2019-03-27T16:50:25Z")
I see the same thing with proper (UK) pennies. Some are years old and shiny, which I assume spent a long time sitting in a clean, dry coin bag or change jar. Some new ones look as if they’ve been run over, kicked across the etc. And they probably have been, before some scavenger picks them up. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/14 "2019-03-27T18:16:56Z")
Someone might have dropped the old grimy 1993 penny into [Taco Bell sauce](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tsw57Ei8RI). Someone once told me to put an old penny in Taco Bell hot sauce to see what it was doing to my insides. The old penny came out of the sauce looking brand new. ---
**Author:** ![Lips\_Obsession](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbce88/32.png) [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-secret-life-of-pennies/831596/15 "2019-03-27T19:09:45Z")
Zinc pennies don’t hold up nearly as well as the old copper ones. Especially when exposed to weather. That’s why you can see new ones that are really bad looking. As for old pennies looking new, they may have been cleaned, sat in a piggy bank (lots of people never spend them, just throw them in a jar), or even “rescued” from someone’s coin collection.