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DID YOU KNOW? |
$711,394.58
Nationwide students in 807 schools gathered $711,394.58 in pennies during the 06/07 school year.
A Pretty Penny
The most valuable pennies known to exist were minted in 1793, and the only four known to exist today are worth $275,000 each.
Award winner!
Common Cents won the NY1 New Yorker of the year award for 2007.
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Child Philanthropy
The Penny Harvest is the largest child philanthropy program in the United States
Copper?
Pennies made from 1793 to 1837 were pure copper. Today the alloy is 97.5% zinc and only 2.5% copper.
Faces on coins
In 1909, President Lincoln appeared on a one-cent coin and became the first real person—as well as the first American president—to have his face appear on a regular-issue American coin.
Facing right
Why does the portrait of Abraham Lincoln face to the right when all of the other presidents’ portraits face to the left? Lincoln faces right not because of a law, but simply because Lincoln happened to face right in the image Brenner used to design the coin.
More pennies
There are more one-cent coins produced than any other denomination
Penny Designs
There have been 11 different designs featured on the penny.
Students’ Self-worth
100% of teachers surveyed this year agreed that participation in the Penny Harvest increases students’ self-worth as well as increasing students’ empathy for the needs of others.
Then and now
The image on the first cent was of a lady with flowing hair, who symbolized liberty. The coin was larger and made of pure copper, while today’s smaller penny is made of copper and zinc.
What’s in a name?
The proper term for a once cent coin is “one cent piece,” but in common usage this coin is often referred to as a penny or cent. Many times, even the Treasury Department and the United States Mint use the term penny because that is what is normally referred to in general use by the public.
