Faith Salie offers her two cents on the end of the penny

What is worthless, but priceless? Overlooked, but treasured? Ubiquitous, but ephemeral?

What makes us stop in the street to transcend our pride and stoop to pick it up?

It’s the humble, shiny, tiny penny.

The Treasury announced it will cease making new pennies by early next year. Will they disappear immediately? No. But like so many things in our lives – reliably snowy winters, face-to-face conversations, books whose pages we can turn – pennies are fading away. 

Before you shrug me off as a sentimental fool old enough to remember visiting the penny candy store on Cape Cod, I do understand that pennies are “outdated” and “inefficient.” The government spends about 3.7 cents to make 1 penny. That’s a loss of $85 million last year alone. And around half of us don’t even carry cash anymore. I don’t think the Tooth Fairy believes in pennies nowadays. So, canceling them makes “cents.”

But in a world where it seems like everyone’s looking down, a penny can remind us things might be looking up … you know, pennies from heaven?

You know who was on the first penny in 1792? A woman! It was deemed un-American back then to depict a ruler on a coin, so pennies featured Lady Liberty.

It wasn’t until 1909 that President Lincoln’s face graced the coin. His iconic profile was designed by a Lithuanian-born Jewish immigrant, Victor David Brenner, who created what’s thought to be the most reproduced piece of art in history.

1943 pennies were made of zinc-coated steel, because copper was needed for World War II.

Should we just throw that history away? Well, yes! As long as we imbue each toss with our wishes.

“A penny for your thoughts” was coined nearly 500 years ago by Sir Thomas More, back when offering someone a penny meant their musings were really worth something.

These are just my two cents, but … nobody throws a bitcoin into a fountain.

Call me a numismatic nostalgic, but in a world full of crypto and virtuality, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the tarnished, tangible, inefficient promise of luck.

      
For more info:

       
Story produced by Liza Monasebian. Editor: Ed Givnish. 

      
See also: