elizabethlevett

On a beautiful September day in 1968, my sister put a penny in the sole of her shoe. For luck. She was about to walk down the aisle and begin what would be an amazing life with a wonderful man. Their partnership is over 55 years on now and still going strong.

I read recently that we’ve paused the making of pennies. I get it. I really do. It costs three cents to make one cent. In fact, it costs eleven cents to make a nickel. And what do I do with the pennies that inevitably land in the little zippered change compartment of my wallet? Like anyone else, I gather them once in a while, save them in a jar or can, and then periodically roll them up and take them to the bank. Nobody actually does what we used to do. No one stands at the counter of a grocery store or concession stand and counts the change out of their cute little coin purse. (My mother always used the black satin pouch that fastened with a tiny brass clasp. After she died, I kept one of hers as a treasure. No, I don’t use it. And no, you can’t have it.) I guess making pennies, making cents, doesn’t make sense.

I remember taking first graders to the mint in San Francisco down on Fifth Street. It was always impressive to see the massive rolls of copper ready to be transformed into cute little pennies. The original San Francisco mint was built in 1854 to accommodate funds from the gold rush. The massive, Greek Revival structure was erected in 1874.

Just think of it. No more pitching pennies. (Is there anyone alive who remembers doing this? I didn’t. But I used to watch the boys outside of study hall back at St. Joe’s in Atlanta. Seemed so cool!) No more pennies from Heaven, or Penny Serenade, no penny for your thoughts. (Does that mean they’re worth more now?) Soon nobody will understand what you’re talking about if you say, “Well, a penny saved is a penny earned I suppose.” Nobody will call someone a penny pincher. And hey, you won’t get to put your two cents in anymore. Maybe that’s a good thing. But what’s a person to do for luck before they get hitched?

I do have one suggestion though. If you, like me, have a certain nostalgia for the one cent piece, you might want to hang on to a few. They can be very useful. From a quick online search (Yahoo Finance), I found an article listing a whopping thirty things you can do with pennies – granted, most of these were truly tacky. Take for example the penny necklace, the penny decorative backsplash, and the truly misguided garden globe made from a bowling ball with pennies glued all over it. Hard pass. But I did find in the same article that a penny is handy in the car in case you need to check your tire tread. (I do that all the time. “Nothing going on here. Honey, I think I’ll go check the tires just to be on the safe side.”) They can also be used as weights in the hem of a curtain. Excellent. Also, a few pennies plopped in your vase are said to prolong the life of flowers. Who knew? They say you can drop a penny in a bottle of wine you opened and then saved to improve the flavor. I don’t know anything about saving wine though. Just for fun, pennies can be harmless gambling stakes in a “penny ante” game of cards or cribbage.

So, I won’t holler about the loss of the penny. It’s inevitable. But do keep some around just in case. You can always put a few in a red envelope on Lunar New Year or hide one in your shoe. It seems they do bring good luck. Just ask my sister.