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The United States one-cent coin, commonly called a penny, is a unit of currency equaling one-hundredth of a United States dollar. Its obverse has featured the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of his birth. Since 1959 (the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth), the reverse has featured the Lincoln Memorial. The coin is .75 inches in diameter. Despite the prevalence of the common term "penny", the U.S. Mint has never actually minted a coin for which this is the official name.
History of composition During the early 1970s, the price of copper rose to a point where the penny almost contained more than one cent's worth of copper. This led the Mint to test alternate metals, including aluminum and bronze-clad steel. Aluminum was chosen, and over 1.5 million of these were struck and ready for public release before ultimately being rejected. About a dozen aluminum cents are believed to still be in the hands of collectors, although they are now considered illegal, and are subject to seizure by the Secret Service. One aluminum cent was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. The cent's composition was changed in 1982 because the value of the copper in the coin started to rise above one cent. Some 1982 cents use the 97.6% zinc composition, while others used the 95% copper composition. In 1943, at the peak of World War II, cents of zinc-plated steel were made for a short time due to war demands for copper. A few (the U.S. Mint reports forty) copper cents from 1943 were produced from the 1942 planchets remaining in the bins. Similarly, some 1944 steel cents have been reported. Following 1943, salvaged ammunition shells made their way into the minting process, and it was not uncommon to see coins featuring streaks of brass or having a considerably darker finish than other issues. The price of copper later returned to profitable levels. The Mint did not need to change the cent's composition again until 1982. As of November 2 2006, the price of copper is $3.31 per pound and zinc is $1.93 per pound. At these prices, the pre-1982 copper cent contains 2.224 cents worth of copper metal; it is now potentially profitable to melt them down. Presumably with the rapid rise in price for zinc, the US Mint will have to find another alternative. The scrap zinc in a modern cent is worth 1.1 cents. With the costs of manufacturing and distribution, the net cost to produce one cent is about 1.4 cents, significantly higher than the face value of the coin. People with young ears can hear the difference between the bronze and copper pennies and the newer, zinc years: simply "flip" the coin, giving it a good, solid strike. The predominantly copper pennies produce a "ringing" sound in the 12 KHz range. The zinc coins do not ring. Designs The coin has gone through several designs over its two-hundred year history. Until 1857 it was about the size of the current half-dollar coin. The following types of cents have been produced: Large Cents Throughout its history, the Lincoln cent has featured several fonts for the date, but most of the digits have been old-style numerals, except with the "4" and "8" neither ascending nor descending. The only significant divergence is that the "3" was non-descending (the same size as a "0", "1", or "2") in the early history, before switching to descending for one year in 1934 and then permanently (as of 2004) in 1943. The Lincoln Memorial is shown on the reverse of the United States penny. In his treatise Theory and Practise of Numismatic Design, Steve Crooks states that because the Lincoln Memorial is shown in sufficient detail to discern the statue of Lincoln on the reverse of the penny, Abraham Lincoln was the only person to be depicted on both the obverse and reverse of the same United States coin, up until the release of New Jersey state quarter in 1999, which depicts George Washington crossing the Delaware River on the reverse side. Redesign In 2009 the cent will get a one-year, four-coin commemorative program marking the 100th anniversary of Lincoln being placed on the cent (and the 200th anniversary of his birth). This redesign was passed as part of the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, which also mandates that in 2009, numismatic cents will be issued for collectors that have the metallic copper content of cents minted in 1909. In 2010, the cent will be completely redesigned, with a new, permanent design being released into circulation. Lincoln, however, will remain on the coin. The composition will return to copper plated zinc. Criticism and controversy Various commentators have suggested that the penny should be eliminated as a unit of currency for several reasons including that many Americans do not actually spend them, but rather only receive them in change at stores and proceed to return them to a bank for higher denomination currencies. Most modern vending machines do not accept cents, further diminishing their utility, and the production cost now exceeds the face value of the coin due to increasing metal prices. • In 2001 and 2006, for example, United States Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona introduced bills which would have stopped production of pennies (in 2001 the Legal Tender Modernization Act, and in 2006 the Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act). • See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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