In for a penny ...

The Coinage Act of 1792 established our monetary system and also called for the building, equipping, and staffing of a mint to be located in our nation's capital, which at the time was Philadelphia. When it was the only mint, there was no point in putting mint marks on the coins produced there. Later when branch mints were opened, they used a letter (or two) to indicate where the coins were minted, except for those coins from Philadelphia. They continued to have no mint mark.

After a couple hundred years, that policy was changed.  Starting in 1980, all U.S. coins had a mint mark, even P for Philadelphia, with one exception: the penny. Philadelphia-minted one-cent coins still have no mint mark.

Here are two coins from last year. The one on the right is from Denver, indicated by the small D under the date. You know the one on the left is from Philadelphia by the absence of a mint mark.

Here are two pennies from this year:

Notice anything? Like a small P under the date on the first one?

Instead of issuing a special coin or series of coins in gold or other precious metal to commemorate its 225th anniversary, the folks at the Mint decided to do one very small but very special thing: they put the P mint mark on the pennies from Philadelphia.

The fun part is -- they didn't tell anybody they were going to do it. They just issued the coins and then sat back to see how long it would take people to notice.

The U.S. Mint has a playful side.  Who knew?

Neighboring States

When the U.S. Mint started their State Quarters series in 1999, I started saving them. When the program was over ten years later, I had six complete sets, and I decided that was enough.

Any time one comes my way, I still do save the Illinois quarter, however, it being my favorite. Yes, I live in Michigan, but I’m from Illinois. (See my post on this topic from October 3, 2010.)

A few years ago I happened to be in a coin store and decided I would buy a silver proof Illinois quarter. Proof coins are intended for collectors and are struck with highly polished dies on highly polished blanks and are – well, highly polished, and very shiny and pretty. Some coins, the State Quarters among them, also come in a silver proof variety. Instead of the regular copper and tin alloy of common quarters, these are 90 percent silver, just like our quarters (and dimes and half dollars and dollars) used to be back in the day.

When I got home, I was admiring the coin, but I suddenly realized it was not silver. There was a distinct coppery tinge to the edge of it. I took it back to the store, complained to the guy who sold it to me, and was given a genuine silver Illinois quarter in exchange.

Last week I was in that same coin shop, and I thought it would be fun to get another silver Illinois quarter. The man waiting on me went off to see if he had one.  At one point he called out, “What year is the Illinois?”  I told him it was 2003, and in a minute he came back with a bright, shiny coin.  I studied it very closely, making sure there was no tell-tale copper color on the edge. Finally convinced it was silver, I paid the man and went away happy.

When I got home, I was admiring my new coin -- there was George Washington on one side, and on the other side where Abe Lincoln should be, there was the Gateway Arch.

Yep, it’s genuine silver, all right. But it’s Missouri.