A Penny For Your Thoughts? Member of the Penny Generation? Soon.

Good morning, Barbara... I am definitely of the penny generation having grown up in the 1950's. Back then a penny could actually buy you something! Of course, it makes sense to get rid of them if making them costs three times their value. But I will miss them.

Pennies on the rail tracks, smushed flat when the train went over them.  Pennies on the table to see if we could be lucky and find an Indian.  Yes, today's kids will soon lose the magic of the penny.

Hello Barbara, I remember putting pennies on rail road tracks the same as Gwen.  I also pick up pennies if I saw some on sidewalks.  My parents save wheat pennies but my brother got them all.

Thank you for the great information. Have a fantastic week!

Bill Salvatore, Realtor

Arizona Elite Properties

#AZVHV / Arizona Veterans Helping Veterans

Barbara S. Duncan - I am proud to be a member of the Penny Generation. A penny was about sharing it with others that needed it to pay for something of value, such as a piece of candy if you were a kid! 

I also liked playing baseball on sidewalks tossing pennies into the crack to get a home run. Pennies in gumball machines. But most of all, penny candy was the best!

Barbara I remember being told the if you see a penny on the ground to pick it up as it will bring you luck. Guess is worked!!!!!

Hi Barbara- oh yes, I am of the penny generation. Remember penny loafers?   I started out putting pennies in my coke but switched to M&M's. 

Good evening Barbara,

I remember the pennies well! OMG Kathy Streib I remember putting the pennies in my penny loafers and if I spotted one on the ground I always picked it up as it was said to bring good luck!

Hello Barbara - adding my two cents of thoughts on the subject may show I have more than a penny's worth.  So, to speak (even if it's to myself)

Thanks to all your blog followers for their "penny" memories. There are certainly a lot of them. When I was a kid, I always hoped to find an Indian penny in change. I collected a few.

We also liked to put pennys in those embossing machines. My last one was at the Air Museum in Palm Springs, CA. That was 2022.

During WWII, pennys were called lead pennys. The "lead penny" or "tin penny" is a nickname for the 1943 steel cents, which were produced by the United States Mint during World War II. Due to copper shortages for the war effort, pennies were made from a steel core with a zinc coating. 

Then there's pitching pennys. Pitching pennies, also known as pitch and toss, is a game where players toss coins (usually pennies) at a wall, a mark, or a hole, and the player whose coin lands closest wins. 

A penny for your thoughts!

The steel penny is silver in color because of the zinc coating. It is made of steel instead of copper.

A embosing machine basically rolls a coin between steel rollers flattening it into a oval shape then it passes through a stamping tool which leaves a pattern in the flatened coin.

I remember there was one in the bus station of the Rendezvous Cafe in Searcy. there was also a machine that pressed a coin into a aluminum token like this:

The 1943 steel pennies were made of steel and would stick to magnets. You can easily differentiate a steel penny from a copper penny by trying to stick them to a magnet; the steel one will stick, while the copper one will not.  Also the date 1943 might work although there are copper 1943 pennies.  There are approximately 40 1943 copper pennies known to exist, according to the U.S. Mint. These pennies were produced as a result of leftover copper planchets in the machinery when the U.S. Mint switched to steel pennies in 1943. 

They are called Pressing Machines. There might be some left in Searcy. If I remember correctly, it cost a quarter to press a penny in the machines. At the Palm Springs Air Museum, pressing a penny costs $1.00 per design, and you can get all 4 designs for $5.00.

Just checked on eBay for penny pressing machine and one can buy a DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK Penny Press Arcade Machine ' WORKING GUTS ONLY for $500!