Friday, January 13, 2012

Found a Penny on a Walk

Today I had to go to a friend's house to feed the cats. When I was finished feeding, scooping, petting, I grabbed my magnet and took a little walk around the neighborhood. They live in an older part of Phoenix and the little houses are really cute--not cookie cutter ranches, but real houses built in the 1920s, I imagine with some character.

I wandered up some alleys. I found quite a few rusty nails, bottle caps, and other stuff. And I found a penny! As I was leaving one alley, an elderly man was entering the alley. He asked me if I lost my wedding ring. I could have told him, "No, it's in a box. I've thought about selling it since gold is so high," but I didn't. I told him I was just talking a walk, picking up stuff with my magnet.

He told me he once found an Indian head penny and a penny from World War II that wasn't made of copper, but zinc. I just looked it up and they are steel coated in zinc. The copper was needed to make shell casings. So, after he dug around in his jacket breast pocket for quite a while (he was quite old), he found the little "plastic envelope" (a plastic zip bag) that held three pennies.

The Indian head liberty penny was gorgeous! And it was in very good condition. He said when he found it, it was covered in dirt but he used a toothbrush and water. It cleaned up good! Just beautiful. The World War II penny was a 1943 and my magnet did pick it up. (He gave me permission to see if it would! This link tells that the 1943 pennies that stick to a magnet are genuine.) The third penny in his plastic envelope was a 1920 penny, mint mark S! I never see the San Francisco mint mark. He was a good found money guy.

I mentioned my blog but he cut me off. I don't think he knew what I was talking about. Have you found any rare coins? What year? What mint mark?

This Found Money FACTS:
Denomination:  1 penny
Year:  1981
U.S. Mint: D
Condition:   good
How much found money to date: $.36 in 2012

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