Uncle Sam Makes a Profit Minting Pennies

1896

Little Copper Coin Has New Lease on Life

The long despised copper cent has entered upon a new era of usefulness according to the authorities of the Mint at Philadelphia. The Mint has been turning out pennies lately at an astonishing rate, says the New York Journal. Ever since September 1 three presses have been working eight hours a day stamping Uncle Sam's design upon little disks of bright new copper. The average daily output has been 150,000 cents. This represents a profit to the Government per diem of a trifle over $130.

There is money in minting cents from the Government's point of view. The copper "blanks" are not made by the Treasury, but are bought under contract. They are turned out by a firm in Waterbury, Conn., and they cost Uncle Sam only $7300 per million. In other words, for seven and three-tenths cents he obtains material which by a simple process of stamping is transformed into the worth of $1. The profit on each 1,000,000 cents issued is $870.

Until within the last few years the blanks for cents and nickels were made at the Philadelphia Mint, but it was found to be more convenient and about as cheap to purchase them from private parties. The contract for producing them is awarded annually to the lowest bidder, and on this account their cost varies somewhat from year to year. These coins are considered merely as tokens, and their intrinsic value is of no consequence whatever. They are neither counted nor tested by assaying at the Mint, being weighed in bulk only.

One pound avoirdupois of the blanks for cents costs the Government twenty cents, and makes $1.40 worth of pennies when coined. In other words, there are 146 blanks to the pound. The blanks are shipped to the Mint in strong wooden boxes. They are extremely pretty, looking like so much gold when bright and new. In fact, visitors to the Mint frequently mistake the contents of boxes that stand open for gold, and it is a common thing for them to say that they wished they could be permitted to take away all that they can carry. This oft-repeated remark always excites a smile, inasmuch as the strongest man could not carry $100 worth of the blanks without great difficulty.

All of the United States cents are made at the Philadelphia Mint. During the last fiscal year 26,044,277 of them were minted. The production of cents rose three years ago to nearly 100,000,000 for a twelve-month. A steady stream of these little coins flow from Philadelphia to most parts of the country, though in some localities they are not circulated at all. But it often happens, as at present, that the demand exceeds the supply.

The odd prices fixed by dry goods firms nowadays have something to do with the unusual demand, inasmuch as they require the making of small change on nearly every purchase. Such prices seem to have an attraction for the public, and particularly for women, who are apt to buy an article for $1.98 when they would not pay $2. Then, again, the slot machines absorb an immense number of pennies. But after all the movement in favor of cheaper newspapers has done more to place the little old red cent on a plane of respectability than any other agency.

Very few pennies come back to the Mint for remelting. The stream of coppers flows out continually, but its history is like that of many rivers in Western deserts, which are lost finally in the sand. Nobody knows what becomes of the millions on millions of cents that are minted annually; they simply vanish out of sight and are gone forever. The phenomenon seems a strange one, but it is easily accounted for. Pennies are subject to more accidents than any other coins; they change hands ten times as often as dimes, it is reckoned, and being of small value, they are not cared for. People say: "What becomes of all the pins?" The answer is the same in both cases.

Are We To Have Half-Pennies?

1900

Department Stores Want Them to Make Exact Chance With

A movement is on foot to put a one-half cent coin in general use in the United States. Several suggestions have been made to the government, and last week a document was presented, signed by the heads of the big department stores of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh showing the need for this money in making change where articles are sold at 3½, 7½, 12½¢ and at similar prices.

The half-cent coin has been in use in Chicago for the last two years, and last week one of the New York stores ordered 500,000 one-half cent coins. These coins are to be made of copper, size one-half inch in diameter, or just two-thirds of the size of the regular one-cent piece. Stamped in heavy raised figures and letters on one side will be "½ cent," and on the reverse side will appear the name and address of the firm issuing the coins.

Besides, being a convenient change maker, this new coin is considered an advantage from an advertising standpoint, as it carries the name and address of the merchant and would be carried in the purse sometimes for weeks, until the customer receiving it returns to the store where it can be used in making purchases. So far the United States government has nothing to do with issuing this new money. It is put out by individual firms and is only recognized at the store from which it is issued. The proprietors of the big stores are anxious, however, to have the government make and recognize the half-cent coin. — New York Herald.

Busy Stork Brings Fourteen More to Virginia

1909

Busy Stork Brings 14

DANVILLE, Virginia — Two sets of triplets, three pairs of twins and two single babies, born to seven families in the same neighborhood on the same day, is the unprecedented record of Schoolfield, a suburb of Danville, in one day.

Mrs. John W. Yancy gave birth to triplets, two of which are living; Mrs. Jacob C. Brown, triplets, two of which are living; Mrs. J. W. Barber, twins, girl and boy; Mrs. Jane Anderson, twins, both boys; Mrs. P. P. Gridder, twins, boy and girl, and two other women, daughters.


99 Candles on a Cake

WHITTIER, California — Ninety-nine candles, indicating the age of a charming Quaker, Mrs. Lydia Sharpless, blazed on the birthday cake which graced the center of a large table set in the dining room of the Friends' Church. Seventy-five of her descendants were present to offer congratulations to the lady, who clings to dress, manner and speech of the Friends of other days, but keeps informed as to events and movements of the present. She was born in Middletown, Ohio, but have lived in this city for many years.


Please, Mr. Comet, Don't You Kill Us

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — Frank E. Seagrave, a Providence astronomer, whose calculations relative to Halley's comet have attracted widespread attention, announces that the correction of a slight error in the calculations of the comet has developed the discovery that on May 19, 1910, the comet will reach the same plane as the earth in its orbit. It is thereby determined that the tail of the comet will sweep across the plane instead of clearing it. The earth and comet will meet on the same plane, but not in the same path. There will be a distance at the nearest point of 13,000,000 miles between the two.


16,000,000 Cents Coined

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With a total value of $929,269, there were 16,91,875 pieces of coin executed at the mints of the United States during September. Almost 16,000,000 1-cent pieces were turned out.


If a man is honest, you can always tell it by the way he doesn't talk about it.

Hunter Finds Penny Inside a Duck

Pennsylvania, 1915

COIN IN CRAW

Find Lincoln Penny inside of a Duck

Charles Kuhn, of Cashtown, killed a duck on Thursday and in cleaning the craw found a Lincoln penny that must have been there for some time. The edge of the coin was much worn and it was very thin and as bright as a new piece of money.


BOY PAINFULLY HURT

Little Son of Mr. and Mrs. Rummel Has Leg Broken.

Jumping from a pile of straw to the ground, a distance of scarcely more than four feet, John Rummel, the five-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. I. H. T. Rummel, sustained a broken ankle. The little fellow was playing with his sister, Florence, on Thursday afternoon when the accident occurred. It is believed the fracture was caused by the ankle turning, which threw the full weight of the boy on the side of his foot. The family live along the Bonneauville Road about two miles from town.

—Adams County News, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1915.

Girl Battles With 2 Meanest Thieves

1920

Child, 12, Knocked Down in Fight to Save Pennies

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- This is the story of a little girl's brave fight against the two meanest burglars in New York.

Margaret Hagney, 12 years old, was asleep in her home when she was awakened by a noise in an adjoining room. Her parents being absent, she called, "Who's there?" and, receiving no answer, turned on a light to discover two men rattling her bank, containing 75 pennies. The men sprang for the doorway, with the girl giving chase, screaming at the top of her voice.

She caught the man with the bank, meantime fighting off his companion, who was endeavoring to stifle her screams, and finally was knocked unconscious with a blow on the forehead with her own bank.

The men escaped, taking the bank with them, and neighbors a few moments later broke in the house and found Margaret insensible on the floor.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 3.