33. Penny
The smallest unit of our faith in union
For the country’s first 133 years, we never put a real person on our coins. We had worked too hard, struggled too bloodily, to get out from under the thumb of the monarchists, and we weren’t about to embrace some kingly cult of personality by putting someone’s face on a piece of money everybody touches.
But 1909 was the centennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, and there was strong desire in the country to honor him. The Civil War had ended just 44 years prior; Lincoln was revered for his shrewd genius and remarkable good humor, for saving the country. And so we have his penny.
There’s a poetry both beautiful and sad that he’s on our smallest, most common coin. Beautiful for the radical humility: Lincoln, who rose from nothing to become our greatest president, pictured on the smallest unit of exchange, representing government of the people, all of whom touch the penny regardless of wealth. Sad because the penny has become so devalued, a negligible nuisance to be rounded away or discarded altogether. His face has been rubbed smooth.
And now the Treasury has ceased production of pennies, inflation being what it is—a dime today is worth a penny in 1967—and mining zinc to produce the coins being an environmental nightmare, and copper being so expensive. We have to retire the penny. Everyone has known it for a long time. But it’s sad to say goodbye, as we must, to the smallest unit of our faith in union.
Special thanks to Julie Kinzelman for suggesting the penny.
Links:
“US ends penny-making run after more than 230 years,” by Natalie Sherman, BBC, November 12, 2025
“Pennies Are Trash Now: The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies,” by Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, November 16, 2025
“Zinc supplier paying thousands to save penny,” by Dibya Sarkar, The Associated Press (on Dallas Morning News), August 19, 2007.
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This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 words on 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary. Through December 31, 2026.
I’m looking for ideas for this series — have something you’d like me to consider for inclusion? Please feel free to leave a comment!
This was a lovely piece sharing loving details often forgotten....Thank you....
I have a collection of steel pennies with a very personal story connected with them. During World War II, many commodities were in short supply, and people had to live with ration coupons. Copper was especially needed for munitions and communication equipment. My father had graduated from NC State around 1938 with a BS degree in metallurgy. He had no trouble finding a lifetime job with the second-largest steel company in America, Bethlehem Steel; he was exempted from military service because of his knowledge of these essential materials. He was the one who suggested that pennies be made of steel instead of copper, and that was taken up and implemented by the US mint. You can still find 1943 and 1944 steel pennies for sale by rare coin shops. When I see a penny, (not so often these days), I pick it up and think of him.