Standing at the cash register the other day after purchasing a few items, the amount ended in 99 cents. I handed over my 20 dollar bill and the cashier barked, “You’re not getting the penny back!”
Oh, right. I heard about that on the news. The penny is being phased out of existence. Poor Honest Abe is not feeling the love these days. The U.S. mint stopped producing those copper pennies in November 2025. With the dependable Lincoln head penny no longer considered of any value, stores are not obligated to give you back any change under five cents. Let’s add that to the cost of groceries!
The first United States one cent penny coin was issued in 1787 featuring a sundial on front and 13 chain links on the back. Subsequent design changes appeared in 1793 and 1857. In 1909, our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, was featured on the penny with two wheat stalks on the back of the copper coin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth.
At age 10, I received a dark blue hardcover book with gold lettering from Uncle Steve to start a penny coin collection. The empty slots beckoned to be filled with copper pennies from 1900 on up. That coin collection book sparked my interest in actually looking closely at the pennies in my piggy bank to read the dates before sliding each penny into its specific slot on the pages.
As a new college graduate starting my first job at a big publishing company in Manhattan, I used to wander around the East 20s on my lunch break and stop into the various stores. One colorful shop was part of a chain all across New York City – uptown and downtown with “Bazaar” in the name. The Second Avenue Bazaar or Third Avenue Bazaar, depending on which part of Manhattan you were in. The Bazaar stores were chock-a-block with all kinds of decorative household accessories from lamps to place mats, dishes to kitchen chairs.
On one of my lunch time shopping trips at the Bazaar near my office, I purchased a small leather coin purse. The outside was smooth leather in colorful swirls of reds and blues with a sturdy silver clasp on top. This “granny purse,” as I referred to it, was the perfect place to keep my change instead of just throwing the coins into my pocketbook.
That tiny, inexpensive “granny purse” has stayed with me for close to 50 years. The leather has aged, the colors are faded. I can still easily find the coin purse in my various shoulder bags, backpacks and pocketbooks to pay with exact change.
Many years and a few careers later, I used actual pennies in teaching math lessons to my kindergarten students as part of learning how to count, add, subtract and learn about money. I even wrote out that little ditty about “Find a Penny, pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck!” on a big sheet of chart paper to encourage reading and rhyming skills in my young students.
These days, with the proliferation of online shopping or paying with plastic, my little coin purse is feeling lighter and lighter. On the afternoon that the cashier informed me that I would not be receiving any pennies for my change, I opened my little “granny purse” and sadly noted that it only contains one nickel, one dime and one paper clip. Abe Lincoln pennies, we’re going to miss you!
Kim Kovach does not bend down to pick up any coins on the sidewalk these days! Please visit her website at kimkovachwrites.com
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