Did you see the article today about how the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the penny will be replaced in 2009 with several new designs to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth? Very cool, at least to me. I collected pennies when I was a child, and kept them in a little display book. For a while I had a 1909 VDB that my parents brought me from a Memphis coin shop, but I took it out to look at it so many times that I finally lost it. (It was worth about $5.00 in those days.) I think I still have a 1943 penny, made of steel.Anyway, the lovely "wheat ears" penny above, 1909-1958, was replaced by the (boring) Lincoln Memorial in 1959. As time marches on, there are fewer and fewer of these in circulation. A few weeks ago I picked up my change in the grocery store, and--lo and behold! In my delight, I showed the cashier: "Look! A wheat ears penny!" She gazed at it, and then at me, with a look of uncomprehending disdain (a look I've received quite often over the years). I didn't care. That little prize made my day.
So what good is a penny these days? Not much, and perhaps they should be discontinued. But in the meantime, I'll enjoy finding these commemorative editions. (You can laugh--it's OK. I know I'm a nerd.)
11 comments:
You just enjoy details. I don't call that being a nerd. I remember the wheat ear pennies. I hadn't thought of that in a long time.
I get excited about them, too. We always called them 'wheat pennies'.
Bicentennial quarters were another exciting coin in the Clifford household.
I love wheat pennies too! And mercury dimes. And I'm trying to collect all the state quarters.
I have a house just FULL of pennies. Come over and we'll go through them!
are we talking blue cardboard with cutouts for the coins... I got some somewhere.
research this summer in my classroom... a geek is a nerd who cares about how they look.
I love to find wheat pennies too. It's nostalgia...I was born in 1959 so they were still easy to find when I was in grade school. Little Sprout is collecting the state quarters but gives me that same look of disdain when I am excited about finding a wheatie or some other "treasure".
I love pennies. I ALWAYS pick them up when I see them on the ground/floor/sidewalk.
Y'all are fun. I also love Mercury dimes, Indian head/buffalo nickels, and Indian head pennies. Somewhere in the house I have a few of all of those,and some old silver dollars, too. And YES, my pennies are in blue cardboard books with little cutouts...if I can just find them....
You are not a nerd. I love finding wheat pennies. Like little tucked away presents that you were not expecting.
My kids think it's cool when they find "one of those old" bicentennial quarters.. . .
That's why we luv ya!
Mean it!
Maybe a nerd, but a cool nerd.
(I've got a couple of those pennies in m desk drawer. heh, heh.)
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