How Fast are We losing our Common Cents

by Halbert Carmichael

Yes, it's a terrible pun, but it describes the topic of this month's talk perfectly. In spite of Sheldon and the paper wrappers the banks prepare, the little copper coated coins are cents, not pennies. I'll discourse on pennies at another time.

There is information in your pocket. It may be sketchy, and it might take some time to get enough information to make sense of it. The coins in your pocket have designs that were chosen to represent our nation to its inhabitants and to the world. The choices of subjects tell who we think is important and what we want to say about ourselves. The way they are arranged says something about the importance we put on esthetics. But then the mint can't do much if its required by law to put more than fifty letters worth of labels and mottoes. The major problem here is Congress (with a capital C), and the major problem with Congress is that it represents the collective will of a quarter of a billion individualistic Americans.

One piece of information on a coin is the date and mintmark. If you look through enough change you will begin to see a pattern. Most coins in circulation are relatively new, even though the time for coins to physically wear out is in the order of many decades. The predominance of recent dates is particularly noticeable on the cents.

For twenty years I have collected all one cent coins I get in change and periodically sorted them by date and mint mark. I'll invite you to join me by supplying me with the cents you get in change. I'll pay you. Yes, Harry, I owe you. I have also looked at several large hoards of coins.

On Thursday I will present my findings from this effort and show how we can explain most of the results using a fairly simple model of what happens to those insignificant little coppers that pass through our hands and what it tells about the American people.

ã Copyright Raleigh Coin Club   -  2000, 2001, 2002

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