Pennies are the smallest monetary unit in any currency. In the 7th century pennies were made of gold Still, they have witnessed massive changes and the weirdest of incidents. From productions till people behind them, we recount their stories below.
10 Mills!
Have you ever asked yourself about the unit smaller than a penny? Does it even exist? Yeah, they used to be. In the end of 18th century , the Congress approved on making the mill, as the lowest money unit, thousands of which equals a dollar. It got to the production process when it was made of paper, tin and plastic. When it reached to this last stage, production stopped and the (coin?) disappeared.
9 Penny, Word Root
The first British Pennies In England was the Offa penny produced in the 8th century. For the British, the word penny means just one. Its plural is pence. This name came from the word “pennige” an old English word.
8 The Denvor Pennies
In the United States, the pennies since their very beginnings were minted in three centers. Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denvor. In Philadelphia, any mark – mintmark- on the coins were forbidden. San Francisco used to mark its coins with the letter S. As for Denvor, followed their steps and added the D. Since Denvor, no marks were added.
7 Chinese Restaurant Pennies
In the year 2007, a strange situation happened in a restaurant for Chinese food when a man paid his pill with some pennies with the dollars. The cashier refused them, and the man went into such rage that he required the state’s senator to get the pennies be legally accepted state-wide. The senator failed. It was announced that as a vendor has the right not to accept a certain paper money for any reason, the same for pennies. No exclusions!
6 2006 Penny
Pennies used to be more valuable than they are now. They used to buy a few number of things. It could even buy eggs. The incident of 2006 with the first penny to face the cash register. Now people realized how small and useless pennies are.
5 Zinc-Steel Penny
To get into the Second World War, the United States thought to mixed zinc in their coins with the steel, why? The trick saved them a million dollar. As you may expect, the pennies rusted, but this is only half the fun. People even doubted that they were not actual pennies!
4 Flying Eagle Cent
In the year 1856, the first penny ever came. The same size and shape as we know it today, this one costs $15.000. It is still a penny, you know, but the value is in the history behind it. Before this year, pennies were like dollars, the same size and shape. This one is the first that pennies got in this mini-metal shape, so to speak.
3 Double Die
One, among many, of the Lincoln cents is the double-die that came in vogue in the year 1969. The double-die coins left are very few. On the other side of the coin there are lettering that could be seen, and since the name.
2 1909 Penny
The year 1909 witnessed a turn in penny use. Instead of the Indian-head, the bust of Lincoln got entrance on the pennies and it continued as such. Many people commemorated Lincoln through this penny while people in military field objected.
1 The Lincoln Bronze
Created in the year 1943, the Lincoln Bronze pennies are extremely unique mainly because there is only 40 of them left, or they were only 40 from the beginning. When every penny was made from steel, these treasures were, by a mistake, made of copper. After ten years of their make, the one of them was sold for 40.000 dollars. What about now? 1.7 million dollars!
