Penny (United States coin)

The penny, officially known as the cent, is a coin in the United States representing one-hundredth of a dollar. It has been the lowest face-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition of the half-cent in 1857.
The U.S. Mint's official name for the coin is "cent" and the U.S. Treasury's official name is "one cent piece". The colloquial term penny derives from the British coin of the same name, which occupies a similar place in the British system. Pennies is the plural form.
The first U.S. cent was produced in 1787, and the cent has been issued primarily as a copper or copper-plated coin throughout its history. In 1792, Congress established the United States Mint, which began producing coins. In the same year, the Coinage Act of 1792 mandated that the penny be valued at one hundredth part of a dollar and contain precisely eleven penny-weights of copper. In March of 1793, the newly established Mint in Philadelphia distributed the first set of circulating U.S. currency – 11,178 copper cents.
The penny was issued in its current form as the Lincoln cent, with its obverse featuring the profile of President Abraham Lincoln since 1909, the centennial of his birth. From 1959 to 2008, the reverse featured the Lincoln Memorial. Four different reverse designs in 2009 honored Lincoln's 200th birthday and a new, "permanent" reverse – the Union Shield – was introduced in 2010. The coin is 0.75 inches in diameter and 0.0598 inches in thickness. The current copper-plated zinc cent issued since 1982 weighs 2.5 grams, while the previous 95% copper cent still found in circulation weighed 3.11 g.
In the early 2010s, the price of metal used to make pennies rose to a noticeable cost to the Mint which peaked at more than 2¢, a negative seigniorage, for the 1¢ face-value coin. This pushed the Mint to again look for alternative metals for the coin. Due to inflation, a single penny has lost virtually all its purchasing power. The coin was viewed as a burden to businesses, banks, government and the public in general; one survey found that two percent of Americans throw pennies in the trash. Debate mounted over eliminating the coin, which can only be done by an act of Congress.
In late 2025, the Mint halted the production of pennies for circulation, largely due to cost. The penny continues to circulate and remains legal tender, and is still minted for collectors.

History of composition

The composition of the penny has varied over time:

Years	Material	Weight	Weight
1793–1795	~100% copper		-
1795–1857	~100% copper		-
1856–1864	88% copper, 12% nickel		-
1864–1942	bronze		-
1943	zinc-coated steel		-
1944–1946	gilding metal		-
1947–1962	bronze		-
1962 – September 1982	gilding metal		-
October 1982 – present	copper-plated zinc		-

The isotope composition of early coins spanning the period 1828 to 1843 reflects the copper from Cornish ores from England, while coins after 1850 reflect the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan ores, a finding consistent with historical records.
In 1943, at the peak of World War II, zinc-coated steel cents were made for a short time because of war demands for copper. A few copper cents from 1943 were produced from 1942 planchets remaining in the bins. Similarly, some 1944 steel cents have been confirmed. From 1944 to 1946, 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.
During the early 1970s, the price of copper rose to the point where the cent contained almost one cent's worth of copper. This led the Mint to test alternative metals, including aluminum and bronze-clad steel. Aluminum was chosen, and over 1.5 million samples of the 1974 aluminum cent were struck before ultimately being rejected.
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 used the 97.5% zinc composition, while others used the 95% copper composition. United States cents minted after 1982 have been zinc with copper plating. The bronze and copper cents can be distinguished from the newer zinc cents by dropping the coins on a solid surface, or by flipping them in the air with one's thumb. The predominantly zinc coins make a lower-pitched "clunk" when hitting the surface, and make no sound when flipped in the air; while the copper coins produce a higher-pitched ringing sound. In addition, a full 50-cent roll of pre-1982–83 coins weighs compared to a post-1982–83 roll which weighs.

Designs

The coin has gone through several designs over its two-hundred-year time frame. The original cent coin manufactured by the U.S. Mint featured Lady Liberty. One design featuring Lady Liberty was cut by Henry Voigt, but these coins were likely experimental, and did not enter circulation. William Russel Birch is believed to have been the artist who rendered the flowing hair design of Lady Liberty on the original cut cent. Until 1857 it was about the size of the current U.S. dollar coins. Shown below are the different cent designs that have been produced; mintage figures can be found at United States cent mintage figures.
Large cents:

Flowing Hair Chain 1793
Flowing Hair Wreath 1793
Liberty Cap 1793–1796
Draped Bust 1796–1807
Classic Head 1808–1814
Coronet 1816–1839
Braided Hair 1839–1857, 1868

Small cents:

Flying Eagle cent
Indian Head cent
Lincoln cent
* Lincoln Wheat
* Lincoln Memorial
* Lincoln Bicentennial 4 reverse designs
* Lincoln Union Shield

No cent coins were stamped with the year 1815. Shipments of copper planchets from the United Kingdom were embargoed during the War of 1812, and the Mint's supply was exhausted in October 1814. Cent coins resumed minting in December 1815, though it is not clear whether these were stamped 1814 or 1816.
Throughout its history, the Lincoln cent has featured several typefaces 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 small 3 was non-descending in the early history, before switching to a descending, large 3 for the year 1934 and then permanently in 1943. Similarly, the digit 5 was small and non-descending up to 1945.

Lincoln cent

The Lincoln cent is the current one-cent coin of the U.S. It was adopted in 1909, replacing the Indian Head cent. Its reverse was changed in 1959 from a wheat-stalks design to a design which includes the Lincoln Memorial and was replaced again in 2009 with four new designs to commemorate Lincoln's bicentennial. There are more one-cent coins produced than any other denomination, which makes the Lincoln cent a familiar item. In its lifespan, this coin has weathered both world wars, one of which temporarily changed its composition as part of the war effort. The obverse design is the longest produced for any circulating American coin.

History

When the Lincoln one-cent coin made its initial appearance in 1909, it marked a radical departure from the accepted styling of United States coinage, as it was the first regular coin to bear a portrait other than the mythical Liberty which appeared on most pre-1909 regular coins. Previously, a strong feeling had prevailed against using portraits on coins in the United States, but public sentiment stemming from the 100th anniversary celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birth proved stronger than the long-standing tradition.
A variety of privately minted tokens bearing Lincoln's image circulated as one-cent pieces during Lincoln's presidency; legitimate coinage had become scarce during the Civil War. These early tokens undoubtedly influenced the denomination, appearance, size, and composition of Lincoln cents.
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. president, thought American coins were so common and uninspiring that he attempted to get the motto "In God We Trust" removed as offending religion. Roosevelt had the opportunity to pose for a young Lithuanian-born Jew, Victor David Brenner, who, since arriving nineteen years earlier in the United States had become one of the nation's premier medalists. Roosevelt had learned of Brenner's talents in a settlement house on New York City's Lower East Side and was immediately impressed with a bas-relief that Brenner had made of Lincoln, based on a Mathew Brady photograph. Roosevelt, who considered Lincoln the savior of the Union and the greatest Republican president, and who also considered himself Lincoln's political heir, ordered the new Lincoln cent to be based on Brenner's work and to be released just in time to commemorate Lincoln's 100th birthday in 1909. The likeness of President Lincoln on the obverse of the coin is an adaptation of a plaque Brenner created several years earlier which had come to the attention of President Roosevelt in New York.
In addition to the prescribed elements on U.S. coins—LIBERTY and the date—the motto In God We Trust appeared for the first time on a coin of this denomination. The United States Congress passed the Act of March 3, 1865, authorizing the use of this motto on U.S. coins, during Lincoln's tenure in office.
Even though no legislation was required for the new design, approval of the Secretary of the Treasury was necessary to make the change. Franklin MacVeagh gave his approval on July 14, 1909, and not quite three weeks later, on August 2, the new coin was released to the public.