By Frank Ross
Inflation has slowly but surely consumed the value of our fiat greenbacks, and reduced the worth of a penny to compensating for the odd numbers in a sale between a nickel and nothing. Today, it is common to find pennies lying on the pavement in parking lots. People drop them when they reach for their keys, and don’t consider them of sufficient value to bend over and pick up.
The common penny in some of it's many forms.
My second interest in picking up these round copper wafers is a curiosity of the date and mint mark, a habit that lingers from another youthful endeavor, coin collecting. And of course, finding a rare wheat penny is always a treat for a one-time coin collector.
Over the years, the composition of the penny has changed many times, and today there isn’t enough copper in them to matter. Back in the old days, I mean the really old days, from 1793 to 1837, the penny was made of pure copper.
Then, from 1837 to 1857, the one cent coin was bronze, made of a composition 95 percent copper and five percent tin and zinc.
In 1857 they changed the composition again, making it from 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel. This alloy gave the coin a whitish appearance.
The Indian Head Cent became the new classic small penny in 1859 and remained in that style for 50 years. Curiously, the image actually isn’t an Indian, but a representation of Lady Liberty wearing an Indian headdress. In 1909 the Lincoln Cent was issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth and went on to replace the Indian Head Cent.
After seven years, the government changed its mind again, and the penny was once again bronze. From 1864 to 1962, the composition was 95 percent copper and five percent tin and zinc, with a slight hiccup for the war effort in 1943. In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, the heads of wheat on the coin’s reverse side was replaced by the Lincoln Memorial in 1959.
The demand for copper during the early days of WWII caused the mints to make the coins of zinc coated steel. However, a few copper pennies were minted during 1943, and anything that is rare is valued by collectors. The 1943 copper penny is one of the most highly coveted coins in the world, which is reflected in their value. A 1943 copper cent was first offered for sale in 1958, bringing more than $40,000. A subsequent piece sold for $10,000 at an American Numismatic Association convention in 1981. The highest amount paid for a 1943 copper cent was $82,500 in 1996.
In 1962 the tin content was removed from the cent, making the composition 95 percent copper and five percent zinc. The alloy remained unchanged until 1982, when it became a copper-plated zinc coin made up of 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper.
Change is the one constant in life, and unfortunately change is often not for the better. For me, a penny should have more copper than 2.5 percent. And that’s another reason that makes finding a wheat penny special. Who knows, perhaps someday I’ll bend over and pick up a 1943 copper penny that’s been overlooked for all these years. Well, it’s worth dreaming about isn’t it?
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