Collecting pennies

McCOOK, Neb. -In the next few articles, I’m going to explain the denominations of coins and the information you need to know about them.

In case you were wondering what I mean by denominations, denominations are the different kinds of coins, such as pennies, nickels, dimes and so on. In this article, I will be talking about pennies.

There are about ten different kinds of pennies, but I’m only going to go through the five most recent designs.

The first kind of pennies I am going to talk about are Shield Cents. These coins have been minted from 2010-present. There isn’t much to look for except the 2019 Westpoint penny and the common, but interesting 2017 Philidelphia penny. The 2017 Philidelphia penny is the only penny that has a P mint mark. All other pennies from the Philidelphia mint have no mint mark.

Then there are the Lincoln Memorial pennies. These are the pennies that have the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse. These pennies are the most common kinds to find errors on. They were minted from 1959-2008. During 2009, the coins for this year had many different designs on the reverse to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. There are four different designs for that year, including Formative Years, Birth and Early Childhood, Professional Life, and Presidency. These coins are relatively low mintage.

1974 was the last year the S mint mark was not a proof. 1982 was the last year copper coins were made. After that date, they were composed of zinc.

Wheat pennies are my favorite coin to find. They were made from 1909- 1958. This is the first time Lincoln appears on a coin. See if you can guess why... It’s because it was the 100th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth in 1909. They are usually worth three cents unless there are less than 50 million minted or they are in great condition. The most interesting wheat penny to find is a 1943. These are usually made of steel, but there are a few that were made of copper. The reason this happened is because the material from the previous year got mixed in with the material for that year. So, it also happened that there were some steel pennies in 1944.

You’re probably saying to yourself, “Why would they make steel pennies for that specific year?” Well, it’s because they needed the copper for the war effort in World War II.

Indian Head pennies were minted from 1859-1909.1908 was the first time a mint mark appeared on pennies. The average Indian Head penny is worth one dollar. I have only found one while coin roll hunting and it was a 1906.

The last kind of penny that I will talk about is the Flying Eagle penny. It was minted for a very short time; only 1856-1858. I have never seen one of these in real life and I would be absolutely amazed if I found one in a coin roll. They are usually worth 15 dollars.

Pennies are really enjoyable to see because there are so many unique features to find.

Samuel Cary is 13 years old and in 8th grade. He is mostly home-schooled, but he does attend McCook Junior High School for band (trombone) and choir. Samuel enjoys being on the YMCA McCook swim team, mountain climbing, and camping. He is also very interested in cars, specifically newer models. He likes to write stories about his hobbies and he reads a lot of books; his favorite is the series “Ranger’s Apprentice”. Samuel is the middle child of three boys and he has four pets - a dog named Mercy, a cat named Grace, a bearded dragon named Toothless, and a fish named Wilma. His favorite movie is “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith”. Samuel will be sharing a series of articles about his coin collecting hobby.