The Penny Research Paper

Penny, originated from the British pound’s smallest currency unit “pence,” was used for the copper and it has an interesting background. Since 1787, more than 300 billion pennies have been minted with eleven different designs and different material compositions throughout the years. The first cent, named the “Fugio” cent, was made of 100% copper. Due to the War of 1812 with Great Britain that caused a copper shortage, no new penny appeared in the year of 1815. In 1856, the “Flying Eagle” cent was minted and its copper percentage was reduced to 88% and 12% of nickel was added, and the introduction of nickel gave penny a slight of silver appearance. Then in 1864, nickel was replaced to 5% of zinc. Penny remained like that until 1982, when the