The Penny

November 12, 2025. The day the penny died.

After decades of debate, the production of pennies officially ceased last month. The cost-benefit analysis finally slayed the copper coin. At last reporting, the price of minting each one-cent piece had risen to 3.69 cents. The math just doesn't work anymore.

The original penny, first struck in 1792, featured a feminine figure representing the ideal of liberty. Our contemporary coin appeared in 1909, commemorating the 100th birthday of President Lincoln. His craggy profile was the first presidential face to grace a coin, and on the flip side, a rendering of the well-known Lincoln Memorial. 

As a kid, my Dad taught me to check each penny I got for the alternative wheat design. "Wheaties," as they are called, feature two stalks of grain on the coins' posterior, a design choice that pre-dates the completion of the famed monument in 1922. Continued production from 1909 to1958 means there are plenty of "wheaties" still in circulation. I have a jar full of them to prove it.

I mourn the demise of the penny. And the writer in me wonders if the words I associate with this staple of my youth will die as well. "A pretty penny." "Penny pincher." "Penny wise and pound foolish." And perhaps my favorite.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"If it's a penny for your thoughts and you put in your two cents worth, then someone, somewhere, is making a penny." - Steven Wright