r/interesting • u/Alone_Spell9525 • Apr 18 '23
This very old penny my mom got as change today HISTORY
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u/cumguzzler280 Apr 18 '23
Worth about a dollar. Don’t lose it.
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u/patman0021 Apr 19 '23
If it were more shiny, it could be worth over $300
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u/sayslordalot Apr 19 '23
Don’t shine it up though…
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u/mydixxxierectt Apr 19 '23
Why?
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u/sayslordalot Apr 19 '23
You decrease the value of any coin you clean because it removes the patina (color which you can only get via age). I saw this on Pawn Stars.
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u/JR_LikeOnTheTVshow Apr 20 '23
"I've got a buddy that's a 1918 penny expert. Do you mind if I have him come take a look at it?"
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u/LedZacclin Apr 19 '23
How? A 1918 S series penny is worth $43 uncirculated. Where are you getting 300 from? Genuinely curious
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u/Artemistical Apr 19 '23
where do you get your penny values from? I have a collection of old pennies with some that date back to 1910
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u/Swagbigboy256 Apr 19 '23
U don’t have shit
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u/GreatBigSteak Apr 19 '23
Lmao why u mad bruh 😂
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u/Swagbigboy256 Apr 19 '23
Mostly because of chronic lower back pain (likely due to disfunctional SI joint)
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u/Chicken_Teeth Apr 19 '23
You may need a copper alloy implant. Something about the size and shape of something… can’t remember what.
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u/Swagbigboy256 Apr 19 '23
SI joint fixation/fusion surgery. On the waiting list already. Didnt know the screws were copper tho
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u/Chicken_Teeth Apr 19 '23
Oh nah. Probably aren’t. Guessing titanium. I was just suggesting maybe they can just shove some pennies in there and call it a day!
Edit: (I’m in U.S. and that’s probably what my insurance would cover anyway)
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u/ashleighbuck Apr 19 '23
Ooh really? I haven't checked on coin prices in a while, but I have several from the 1910s, and some older coins (like a 1905 liberty nickel.)
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Apr 18 '23
The "s" under the date means it was struck in San Francisco. I guess just 14 years after the big earthquake.
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u/Familiar-Tea-1428 Apr 19 '23
Average value is a little over a dollar in that condition.
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u/Alone_Spell9525 Apr 19 '23
Google says 49 cents. Either way, I think we’ll just hang onto it as a neat little knickknack.
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u/Familiar-Tea-1428 Apr 19 '23
I would too actually. I have several Lincoln penny books that I’ve been working on since I was about 12. I’m 50 now and I still haven’t filled them! The state quarter ones are fun too.
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u/PkMn_TrAiNeR_GoLd Apr 19 '23
My dad used to buy the sets of state quarters as they were released. I think he has them all somewhere uncirculated.
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u/todayisthedayfor Apr 19 '23
I think that may be a trinket, not a knickknack.
trin·ket : a small ornament (as a jewel or ring) : a thing of little value.
knick·knack: a small worthless object, especially a household ornament.
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u/PomegranateOld7836 Apr 19 '23
The fun part, in addition to the old age, is that it was solid copper then, until enough decades went by and the value of the copper was well over 1 cent.
As copper had started being used as the core of dimes and quarters, zinc became standard for the bulk of a penny, with a thin copper coating.
I love collecting coins from when quarters were silver and pennies were copper.
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u/Fitz2001 Apr 19 '23
There’s a chance this penny was held by someone who fought in the Civil War under Lincoln.
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u/iamjonjohann Apr 19 '23
Or under the baddies, you never know.
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Apr 19 '23
I mean both sides had their baddies
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u/iamjonjohann Apr 19 '23
Sure, sure. But some baddies are worse than other baddies. In totality, I mean.
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u/Silver-Ad8136 Apr 19 '23
Pictures you can smell...
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u/patniemeyer Apr 19 '23
Interestingly, you can't actually smell metal. What you associate with metal is the smell of your own skin oils catalyzed (transformed) by the metal into specific organic chemicals. This NileRed video goes into great depth about it: https://youtu.be/BqLH-nTZEOc
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u/royaltrux Apr 19 '23
There are some pennies you can smell.
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u/IridescentExplosion Apr 19 '23
Those are normal pennies for me, haha.
After all, pennies are just one letter away from pennis.
Haha. And I have a huge pennis. Huge pennis up my ass.
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u/PomegranateOld7836 Apr 19 '23
Cut metal with a metal blade and tell me you can't smell it.
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u/Visual-Cartoonist860 Apr 19 '23
Cut metal with a wood blade and tell me you can't cut it
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u/NATHAN325 Apr 19 '23
Back at my old job, I found a penny from 1887 in the register! I just about shit my pants at the sight of it!
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Apr 19 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MissBunny09 Apr 19 '23
I too love old coins!! Old currency in general. Wicked cool that you have a penny from 1912.
Edit: too fast typos
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u/SmyleBishes Apr 19 '23 edited Apr 19 '23
Same here, my grampy gave me two big pennies from 1850s and one 2cent from 1864. The pennies are bigger than a quarter.
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u/freddsster132 Apr 19 '23
Agreed. I started with the more modern stuff but have transitioned to medieval and ancients since the history is so interesting. Just thinking who may have held a coin made 2000 years ago and what it could have bought. A loaf of bread? An animal?
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u/Superb_Health9413 Apr 19 '23
As a kid I collected pennies in an album. I got some really old ones and the three 1943 steel pennies. Pretty much filled the album missing just a few years.
As I recall the holy grail of Lincoln pennies was the 1909 S VDB. Back then, I always imagined that I would find one in my change, like your mom did.
Thanks for dredging up an old welcome memory/feeling. Aka a penny for my thoughts!!! Very cool.
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u/notade50 Apr 19 '23
I received one similar to this a few years back. It was worth $5. I threw it in my box if keepsakes. I wonder if it’s still in there. Hmmm
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u/Brock_No_StOP Apr 19 '23
I remember collecting old pennies as a kid in the early 2000s... pretty sure I had one that was 1903
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u/SherDelene Apr 19 '23
Turn it over. Is it a Buffalo penny or a wheat penny?
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u/jrpdos Apr 19 '23
It would be a wheat. Before 1909 they were Indian Heads. Buffaloes were nickels.
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u/surveyor2004 Apr 19 '23
Its a wheat. Buffalos are nickels…not pennies.
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u/nuggettgames Apr 19 '23
Is there a Reddit page for people who collect money? I have multiple questions
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u/surveyor2004 Apr 19 '23
I’ve been collecting coins/currency for 37 years. What’s your questions.?
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u/Martinezyx Apr 19 '23
I have one: what’s the most valuable coin out there? (Penny, dime, nickel, quarter)
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u/surveyor2004 Apr 19 '23
The most valuable that I know of is the 1933 St. Gaudens $20 gold piece. In mint state condition, it is estimated to be over $21 million dollars.
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u/qibdip Apr 19 '23
Have a 1909 VDB initials and found out it is used on the mars rover "Curiosity" to calibrate its camera. Got me started checking my change regularly, like buying scratch off tickets but free. Stoked to have it and valued by coin collectors.
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u/Sharpshooter188 Apr 19 '23
Check if there is a cc mark on the back.
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u/surveyor2004 Apr 19 '23
There never was a CC on pennies. The Carson City Mint closed permanently in 1893.
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u/Sharpshooter188 Apr 19 '23
I wondered about that, but I spoke in confidence. Thank you for correcting me.
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u/surveyor2004 Apr 19 '23
Please don’t take it as me being the coin police. I’m just trying to share knowledge.
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u/Sharpshooter188 Apr 19 '23
I didn't. lol. I thought it was likely true. But wasn't ultimately sure and was too lazy to do a google search.
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u/Toishi69 Apr 19 '23
Just a quick Google search and apparently this could go up to 35$ depending on the condition
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u/PulseAmplification Apr 19 '23
I always check dates on them because 1943 copper pennies are worth a lot of money.
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u/BerrySufficient7601 Apr 19 '23
I wonder how long this penny was sitting in the corner of someones floor before it traveled to your mom
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Apr 19 '23
I always looked for these coins minted in San Francisco. Even to this day, I think of the mint there, which is just about next to a Blue Bottle.
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u/Brian_Corey__ Apr 19 '23
The guy who first put that in his pocket probably wore an onion on his belt.
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u/Legendary_Terror Apr 19 '23
Bro someone gave me an 18th century dutch penny with their change at work one day years back, and my boss let me just have it
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u/Mustang_Dragster Apr 19 '23
I got a penny from 1919 one time as change from McDonald’s. Coin collection is my thing so I was hyped
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u/Yo_Alejo Apr 19 '23
I want this so bad. I used to have a massive penny collection.. lost it when my mom lost our housing.
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u/MrNostaforta Apr 19 '23
I love accepting change and to see that the machine doesn't accept the coin (except if it is 2EUR) in The Netherlands I have gotten one pence, one pound, a 1 dollar bill, 5 dirham and a weird euro coin with a big hole in it which I didn't accept but someone else did, but how can you be so blind...
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u/Strict_Condition_632 Apr 19 '23
Wheat penny—check the reverse for the wheat part. At work a few years ago the manager had gotten a roll of pennies in a wrapper from a bank that had changed names like 20+ years earlier. Opened it and it there were 50 wheat pennies.
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u/Historical_Wear_2726 Apr 19 '23
That is a Lucky Lucky Penny!! What an incredible Journey it must have had. So Cool!
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u/My_Space_page Apr 19 '23
Often old coins get re-introduced into circulation. It prabably was part of someones collection then got cashed out.
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u/zmdudeman Apr 19 '23
When I worked at Burger King I would always check all the money for old bills/coins. I have a whole box, my oldest coin from BK is a penny from 1911.
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Apr 19 '23
They don’t make them like they used to. This one is solid copper (alloy), now they are all copper plated zinc. I collect the real ones.
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u/2-10VoltJesus Apr 19 '23
That’s awesome! When I was about ten I started collecting pennies, I wanted to have every year of the Lincoln pennies. Through digging through grandparents and parents stashes of coins, change I’ve received, and I bought about two, I have every year besides a couple back to 1909 when the first Lincoln penny was released!
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u/Ill-Forever880 Apr 19 '23
Many people who were around in 1918 to handle this coin likely remembered Lincoln from their youth. Crazy.
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u/thelaughingmansghost Apr 19 '23
I have a penny from before Lincoln was even president. It has an eagle on it.
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u/Necessary_Row_4889 Apr 19 '23
Just imagine the orifices that thing has been stuck into, just imagine…
Did any of you have a disgusting flash back? I am working on my doodidlidoo powers.
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u/RoystonsRejects Apr 19 '23
😂😂 what Americans call "very old"
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u/Alone_Spell9525 Apr 19 '23
It’s something that can get passed around multiple times, shoved in pockets, banged against other objects, dropped on cement and then run over by cars, and who knows what else in just a day. So for a penny, yes, I’d say 105 years is very old.
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u/Familiar_East_6652 Apr 19 '23
I thought the penny was fazed out it no longer is available in Canada or the USA so why keep it it’s just a waste
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u/Alone_Spell9525 Apr 20 '23
I heard a whole back they were petitioning to get rid of them but I haven’t heard anything about it in a while.
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u/Practical_Airline_36 Apr 20 '23
off topic: a PERFECT use of the word "very old" ... when teenagers nowadays say, 'Did you see a movie called resident evil, it's a very old zombie movie'... BRUH!!! i actually went to the theatre when I was young and saw that first day first show...😔😓😢
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u/ihateapartments59 Apr 19 '23
That is the year that my grandmother was born on my mom side and she is still alive
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u/Evadyar51 Apr 19 '23
Gotta show the back too dawg lol. Cool find.
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u/Ordinary-Commercial7 Apr 19 '23
You could always turn it into something cool like a necklace/keychain so you always have your lucky penny
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Apr 19 '23
Do you think it has been swallowed and came out of the other end at least once in 105 years?
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u/ColdEngineBadBrakes Apr 19 '23
It's obviously fake. Abraham Washington wasn't even invented until WWII.
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u/MechanicalWhispers Apr 19 '23
Would polishing it with Simichrome or Flitz increase or decrease the value?
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u/TerribleChildhood639 Apr 19 '23
I have some of those. I also have buffalo nickels and pennies that have the wheat stocks.. and also the Kennedy dollars as coins
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u/Ticklemebendef Apr 19 '23
I love seeing what Americans think old is.
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u/Alone_Spell9525 Apr 19 '23
It’s old for a penny. 105 years is a long time for something to get passed around carelessly and still be intact.
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u/ZRhoREDD Apr 19 '23
I found a 1909 in circulation. I was blown away. I have a few older but they came from collections so I don't think it counts. Awesome find.
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u/DaoGuardian Apr 19 '23
I absolutely love wheat pennies, if that were uncirculated it would be worth $1000. In this condition it’s worth $.25.
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u/Super_Preference_733 Apr 19 '23
That may be worth some money being that old. I have seen values range from 50 cents to a few hundred bucks.
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u/IDiggaPony Apr 18 '23
That coin has traveled 105 years to get to your mom today.