Where are pennies minted?

Answer 1

It depends on which country and what date(s) you're referring to.

US cents have at various times been made of copper, copper-nickel, bronze, plated steel, and (currently) copper-plated zinc.

Canadian cents have been made of bronze, copper-plated zinc, and copper-plated steel.

British pennies have been made of silver (centuries ago), silver and copper, copper, bronze, and (currently) copper-plated steel.

In some cases it can be complicated to determine a cent's / penny's composition because changes have been made in the middle of a minting year. Even though it's not normal Answers.com policy to say "use the internet", that may be your best approach because of the complexity of searching dates and compositions.

Answer 2

One theory is a man named Woolworth owned one of the first dime stores. Everything cost 1 dollar, or 2 dollars etc. Employees were stealing the dollars since they were single paper notes and easy to remove from the cash register. So items were priced as .99 cents and various amounts of cents. He started pricing items as in cents from 1 cent to 99 cents, etc. Pennies were needed to use correct amount to purchase an item. Pennies were used to make it more difficult to steal paper money. This is one story for pennies being made. To learn more go to the Department of The Treasury located in Washington who makes US money.

CorrectionThe above is not correct in any way (except for saying that the Treasury is in Washington DC)

Cents and pennies were issued in order to have small-denomination coins for making change. The denomination existed centuries before either paper money or Woolthworth's.

The penny denomination was created in England around the year 900 and became one of the "workhorse" coins in the English coinage system. At the time it was valued at 1/240 of a pound sterling.

When the US began to issue its own coinage in 1793, the first denomination struck was the cent, taking its name from French and Latin because it's 1/100 of a dollar (it's related to words like percent, centennial, etc.). These early cents were large - about 38 mm in diameter - and similar in size to the 1-penny coins then in use in England. Because the colonists had been accustomed to English coins until independence, the new cents filled the same use for making change and were nicknamed "pennies" in common speech. The name has stuck till the present time.

When first issued, neither British pennies nor US cents were the smallest denomination. Due to inflation all other lower denominations have been discontinued so the cent / penny coin is now the lowest denomination in use.

Answer 3

The Royal Mint in the UK is a department of government and its primary responsibility remains the provision of the United Kingdom coinage. Pennies for UK circulation are minted at there site in Llantrisant, South Wales UK. For the USA it depends on the mark below the date. D stands for Denver and S for San Francisco (before 1974). Cents without mint marks come from Philadelphia and sometimes West Point.
Denver, Colorado, United States of America

Answer 4

You mean WHERE. WERE is the past tense of BE.

Currently circulation cents are made in two places:

Philadelphia - these do not have a mint mark under the date.

Denver - these have a small D under the date.

Proof cents are made in San Francisco. These have a small S under the date and are only sold in special sets from the Mint.

In the past (up to 1955, then 1968-74) circulating cents were also made at San Francisco.

Once in a while when demand is high, extra cents are struck at West Point. These coins are made like Philadelphia cents, with no mint mark, to avoid creating instant rarities.

Answer 5

pennies are made of 99.2% of zinc and 0.8% copper, with an outer plating of pure copper.

Answer 6

Lincoln cents minted since 1982 are made of pure zinc, with a thin copper coating.

Answer 7

Pennies are made mostly in Philadelphia and Denver. The process of making pennies is called minting.