Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't a penny, a ha-penny will do. If you haven't got a ha-penny, then God bless you!
-- “Christmas Is Coming” Traditional English Song
In Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge experiences the instructive ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. This year, all of us are about to experience something of the present that will soon be past and nonexistent in our future. After 238 years, the US penny has now officially ceased to exist.
That’s not entirely accurate. Pennies still are in circulation. For now. However, being no longer minted, supplies will soon dwindle. In the past, upwards of 11 billion pennies were struck annually. Still, retailers are already running low.
Pennies were once a staple of the Christmas season. In the late-1800s and certainly during the 1930s Great Depression, pennies were saved and given as gifts for good reason. In 1930, a penny could purchase a newspaper, a small loaf of bread, a stick of butter, or a cup of coffee....
Nowadays, giving a penny or pennies as a Christmas gift would be unheard of and even insulting (not unlike leaving pennies as a restaurant tip). The exception would be if it were a rare penny or one in specially made proof or uncirculated Mint sets. This year, there’s an option with a collectible twist. Because pennies are disappearing from our change, collecting them while still possible makes for a rare opportunity.
Pennies may all have the familiar image of Abe Lincoln on the front/obverse. But, the reverse has seen some notable variations. In 2010, the well-known view of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC was replaced. The reverse now features a shield with “E PLURIBUS UNUM” under “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.’ Across the shield is a banner indicating, “ONE CENT.”
In 2009, the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth and the centennial of the first Lincoln cent issued in 1909, the Mint created four pennies featuring aspects of the first Republican president’s life. Images included a log cabin for his early childhood; formative years with him studying a book while sitting on a rail-splitting log; Lincoln standing before the Illinois state capitol representing his professional life; and the partially completed US Capitol as it was when Abe was president.
With metal prices always rising, in 1982, US pennies switched from 95 percent copper to 99 percent zinc with a micro coating of copper.
Mixed in with the billions of circulating pennies are some struck in error. In 1955, 1969, 1970 and 1972, mistakes at the Mint resulted in the pennies being “doubled” in appearance. Today, those slightly blurred anomalies are worth between a few hundred dollars to over $30,000. Others with smaller dates or no mintmarks are also worth a pretty penny/small fortune.
Because pennies will inevitably be vanishing from our change, this is the ideal time and potential last-chance for a youngster to collect them at face value. At present, they are still available from stores and banks. Many banks even still have rolls of pennies containing many mixed dates, mint marks and, perhaps, an overlooked rarity. In the future, pennies, like all other obsolete coins, may only be obtainable from coin dealers for a premium.
More promising is that most everyone has adult relatives aplenty who have saved pennies in jars or boxes. I guarantee any of them would be happy to give some to an eager youngster trying to start a collection and fill an album. That’s where a great Christmas gift comes in.
Many remember the “blue book” folders of yesteryear with holes into which coins were inserted. Those are still available. However, Whitman Publishing is now offering far more impressive albums for pennies dating from 1909—1995 or 1959—2007. The new albums have multiple pages where coins with dates and mintmarks are visible from the front and back and protected with a plastic sleeve. The albums are available at coin dealers or directly from Whitman at www.Whitman.com.
The fact is, not that long ago, we had half-cent (in England known as a ha-penny), two-cent and three-cent coins. All are long gone and many now worth a small fortune. With contemporary pennies such wealth may not happen overnight. But, with time, a completed album would certainly be a fun accomplishment and, someday, potentially profitable.
For those who “give a red cent,” one of the collector albums, along with a few rolls or a bag of pennies from the past, collected in the present to be enjoyed in the future could be a Christmas winner.
For more collecting stories and advice, log on to: http://prexford.com/.