2021

The History of Coins

Once my grandpa showed me a wheat penny, and it was very interesting to look at the dates and where they are from. My grandpa will show me his coin collection, and they are fascinating to look at. I like looking at my change to see if there are any wheat pennies or old coins. That’s why I find coins fascinating.

  Coins are made from metals such as gold, silver, or copper. The Lydians made coins by taking a medal and putting a dye on it and hitting the rock to form a coin. Although the Lydians had a good way of making coins, nowadays coins are made by hydraulic presses which are faster and easier. Today, the United States makes billions of coins every year.

The Lydians were the first to make coins around 2,000 years ago. The Lydians coin’s value was determined by how much they weighed instead of a certain amount. Today, America has six different coins: penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar. America’s first coin was the Half dime. The half dime was made in 1792.

When you look at a penny and under the date, there’s a letter that tells you where it came from, and that letter is called the mintmark. The most common mint mark is P which stands for Philadelphia. The 2019 W quarter is worth 22 dollars or more, the w stands for West Point Mint. The 2017 P penny is about a dollar in good condition.

My favorite coin is the Buffalo Nickel. The Buffalo Nickel was made in 1913-1938. The Buffalo Nickel is commonly referred to as the Buffalo Nickel but is also called the Indian head. The Buffalo nickel was designed by James Earle Fraser around 1907-1909. The three-legged Buffalo Nickel is very rare and worth a lot of money. It rages around $400-1,000 dollars. 

The Wheat Penny is a very neat looking penny.  It has President Abe Lincoln on the front and two wheat stocks on the back of the penny. All pennies made before 1982 were 95% copper and 5% zinc. The Wheat Penny was made from 1909-1958. It was the first penny to have the words IN GOD WE TRUST. The man who designed it was Victor David Brenner. There is a Wheat Penny that is worth a pretty penny, and it is a 1909 s V.D.B. penny they are very rare. Today, pennies still have V.D.B., but it is very small on President Lincoln’s shoulder, and not worth as much as the 1909 s V.D.B. penny. In 1943, they made a zinc-plated steel penny instead of a copper penny for making ammunition for World War II.

Coins are used to buy, sell, and collect. Coins are handy because they are easy to store and are mostly lightweight. 

I have enjoyed learning about these old and new coins showing a little bit from the past.  It has been fun to write about coins. I hope you have enjoyed my paper on coins.

~Rhett F.