Dollar’s ‘fourteenth’ died in America, Penny’s last journey was taken out, see in pictures

The Penny, America’s smallest but longest lasting coin, has now been formally bid farewell. Last month, the US Mint stopped production of the penny after 230 years and following this decision, its symbolic ‘funeral’ was held outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on Saturday. There is a photo of Abraham Lincoln on this coin.

This was not a government event, but a cultural and emotional event, in which hundreds of people participated. People arrived at the event dressed in black, many dressed like the Victorian era and some came dressed as former US President Abraham Lincoln.

Coffins were kept there, in which people were putting pennies, while some people were wishing ‘good luck’ for the last time by throwing pennies in a glass vessel filled with water. There has been a saying in America for a long time that if you find a penny on the road and pick it up, the whole day goes well. Recalling the same sentiment, the speakers said that Penny gave luck to everyone, but saved nothing for herself.

Penny in America means the same thing as one paisa coin used to mean in India. However, as the smallest currency, you can also call it Chavanni. The penny was worth just one cent, but the problem was that the cost of making it was many times more than its value.

In the last financial year, about 3.69 cents were being spent on making one penny. That means the government was incurring losses on every penny. For this reason, US President Donald Trump asked the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies. His logic was clear that when a coin is being made at three times its cost, then continuing its production is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Now the penny will gradually go out of circulation in America, but this does not mean that other coins are also going away. Apart from penny, coins like nickel, dime, quarter and dollar coin will continue to circulate in America. The penny was worth one cent, the nickel was worth five cents, the dime was worth ten cents and the quarter was worth twenty-five cents.

If we consider in Indian Rupees then nickel is equal to about four-five rupees, dime is equal to about eight-nine rupees and quarter is equal to about twenty-twenty-one rupees. One dollar coin also exists, which costs around Rs 85–90, although in America people use notes more than dollar coins.

The cost of making all these coins is less than their real value, so at present there is no decision to discontinue them. Shutting down Penny is not a first for America. Earlier in 1857, the American Parliament had completely abolished the half-cent coin. Even at that time, the reason was that there was a huge difference between the price of the coin and its utility. Interestingly, the last batch of pennies will now go to auction. The government will auction the last pennies minted in November. These also include a very special penny, which is made of 24 carat gold and which has ‘Omega Privy Mark’ engraved on it.