Penny RIP

I see where the Philadelphia mint recently pressed the last penny. This holds a little nostalgic interest for me in that I collected pennies when I was a kid. Back then, there were three mints—Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver—so a complete set for any given year meant getting pennies from each mint. The coins minted in Denver had a little D under the date, and those minted in San Francisco had an S. If there was no mint mark, the coin was minted in Philadelphia. The S pennies were the hardest to find, at least in Tennessee.

Pennies were made of pure copper until 1962, except in 1943, when they were made of steel to conserve copper for munitions. Eventually, the melt value of the copper penny exceeded its face value, and today a copper penny is worth two to three cents as copper regardless of year or condition. Since 1982, pennies have been 97.5% zinc with copper plating. It currently costs about four cents to make a penny, so other than sentimental value, there’s no reason to make them.

When I was a kid, I used to go to the bank and buy rolls of pennies to look for pennies to fill the gaps in my collection. I don’t think my collection is worth much to a collector, but maybe now that no new pennies will be made, eventually the collection might hold interest for my grandsons.

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/know-us-mint-philadelphia-prepares-184735211.html 

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