The humble penny.

Our lowest denomination of modern circulating US coinage. A mere palm full of these brownish red coins appearing as a bountiful treasure trove to our younger siblings, nieces, nephews, and children. They are commonly found jingling inside of pant pockets and coin purses, hoarded inside of car cupholders and stacked neatly on bank teller trays across the US.

For general purposes, I’m going to primarily focus on the small cent in this article. These are the examples that you will still find in circulation today.

The Origin Of The Cent: 1793-1909

The US Mint, if you could realistically call it that in 1793, produced cents and half cents exclusively that year. The Flowing Hair Chain Cent, Flowing Hair Wreath Cent, and Liberty Cap Cent, all produced in 1793, marked the beginning of an era of United States minted one cent copper coins. The coins were larger than modern Pennies, and are in fact most often referred to as the “large cent” in most Numismatic circles.

The more modern “small cent” initially saw the light of day in 1856 with the introduction of the Flying Eagle design. This particular coin was only minted for three short years until 1858. There were only a mere 2,000 specimens produced in 1856, making it extremely rare. A Good-4 graded 1856 Flying Eagle cent is likely to be appraised at several thousand dollars. If you happen to stumble across the unfathomably rare Mint State specimen of the same year, you would see value ranging in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Following the Flying Eagle cent, we have one of the more beloved coin designs of somewhat recent history.

The Indian Head penny was introduced in 1859, immediately following the removal of the Flying Eagle cent in 1858. The Indian Head has saw a couple of different metallic compositions including Copper-Nickle during its introductory year, to copper dominant bronze for the remainder of it’s life span. There were a few different varieties of Indian Heads minted, with reverse redesigns and obverse detail upgrades included in the mix. Though it is extremely uncommon to find these 110+ year old coins floating around in circulation, it does occasionally happen. If you do find yourself fortunate enough to come into possession of an Indian Head by cracking open penny rolls, or decide to start collecting them by purchasing individual coins, here is a link to a fantastic photo heavy database to assist with identification of common mint errors and varieties.

It is worth noting that both Indian Heads as well as Lincoln cents were minted in the year 1909. The 1909-S Indian Head is the lowest minted Indian head of all, being one of only two year and mint mark combinations that saw production runs of less than 1,000,000 coins.

Lincoln Enters The Obverse: 1909-DATE

The Lincoln cent is the bread and butter of hunting Pennies. The familiar face that you will be met with every single time you eagerly unwrap, break open, or otherwise tear into a paper wrapped cluster of cents. The very same coin that we have all found lying on a sidewalk or parking lot, flipped to make a seemingly impossible decision, or hoarded into a jar for rainy day usage.

Lincoln’s portrait has graced the penny longer than any other obverse design in the history of U.S. Minted Coinage. The Lincoln obverse came to fruition in 1909 to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth in 1809, and later in 2009 there were four different reverse designs released to celebrate the 200 year anniversary of his birth.

A note on 2009 pennies.

Design Varieties and Metallic Compositions of the Lincoln Cent.

There are a few other distinctions in the variety of Lincoln cents that you should be aware of.

Design Varieties:

• 1909 – 1958 Wheat Ear reverse, commonly called a Wheat penny or “Wheatie”.
• 1959 – 2008 Lincoln Memorial reverse. This is probably the most well known reverse in the series of Lincoln Cents
• 2009 Lincoln Centennial cent featuring 4 different reverse designs to celebrate Lincolns 200^th birthday.
• 2010-DATE Lincoln Shield Cent Reverse.

Metallic Composition:

It is worth noting that you will often see the terms “bronze” and “copper” used to refer to various types of Pennies. The difference in Pennies that are referred to as bronze versus copper are differentiated by the addition of a small percentage of tin in the metals composition. If Tin is included, it is bronze, if it is excluded, the resulting coin is referred to as a copper cent.

• 1909-1942 Pennies were made from Bronze, or an alloy primarily consisting of 95% copper, and 5% Tin and Zinc. These examples should weigh 3.11 grams, with minor fluctuations based on wear and minor tolerances in weight at the Mint.
• 1943 featured a special single year release of zinc coated steel cents. These were a special mintage produced solely during 1943 in an effort to conserve copper for military infrastructure during WWII. It is unfortunately not too uncommon to find these specimens in absolutely horrid condition due to the zinc plating wearing thin and allowing the steel underneath to rust and corrode.
• 1944-1946 featured a unique twist. Spent shell casings from carious US Military training facilities were secured by the mint, and then melted down and turned into pennies. These examples will also weigh 3.11 grams, with minor fluctuations based on wear and minor tolerances in weight at the Mint.
• 1947 resumed the then-standard bronze composition of the coin until 1962. These examples should weigh 3.11 grams, with minor fluctuations based on wear and minor tolerances in weight at the Mint.
• At some point during 1962 the Mint removed the small percentage of tin from the metal constructing the penny. At this point many refer to Pennies as copper as opposed to bronze. This formula remained in place for twenty more years until 1982.

1982 is when it all changed.

The same materials that had composed the penny since 1962 were reformulated. Copper and zinc were both still used in conjunction, just in vastly different proportions.

It is worth noting that the inner core of the modern post-1982 cent is 99.2% zinc and 0.8% copper, which is then coated in copper plating for an overall total composition of 97.5% zinc with 2.5% copper. In doing further research you may see zinc cents quoted as either combination of values. For example the Official Red Book of U.S. Coins quotes 99.2% Zinc and 0.8% copper whereas most websites will refer to the composition as being 97.5% zinc with 2.5% copper. Both are correct.

So Why Would The Mint Do Such A Thing?

Copper prices were rising in the early 1980’s and the Mint was paying nearly a penny, if not more so, to produce a penny. A cut in profit that was not good for an institution that thrives by keeping all costs as low as possible. Do bear in mind that many times pennies have cost the mint well over 1 cent to produce. Most notably for over the last decade all pennies have cost the mint around 1.5 cents to produce. There is however a large difference in the above-face-value production costs of today and those in the early 80’s. Currently the higher cost associated with production lies within the actual production process of the coins as opposed to the 1982 reformulation being due to the higher prices of raw materials being used to produce the blank planchets. Paying 2 cents for the copper content of the planchet before even factoring in machining costs, labor, housing bagged coins, transportation and logistical distribution factors. The cost adds up quickly.

A Short Rant On Zinc pennies.

This seemingly insignificant adjustment to the composition of metal was made in an effort to keep material costs down and theoretically increase the circulating lifespan of the penny. The issue with zinc pennies is that they in fact did the opposite. As a bit of anecdotal evidence: In every single box of pennies I have ever hunted, an average of two or tree absolutely annihilated zinc pennies find their way into a tray of destroyed coinage that I keep on my desk. Deep gouges, bent coins, and zinc rot. I have also come across more than a few examples of literally unrecognizable horrors that are distinguished as pennies by mere color and diameter alone.

For an even more exhaustive dive into the history of our one cent pieces, check out this article on Wikipedia.