Magnificent Money By Niko A. Kontos

Magnificent Money By Niko A. Kontos

Table of Contents Introduction Treasury 5 6 Mints and mint marks 8-9 Pennies 10-13 State Quarters 14-15 Conclusion 16 Bibliography 17

Introduction Clink! Clink! Clink! That is the sound that everyone likes to hear money! Money might seem like it's just for buying stuff but it really can be more interesting if you think about it. How does it get made? Who makes it? Where does it get made? You probably think a penny is dumb but do you really know it? So let's dig deeper.

Treasury Do you wonder what department really makes money? The answer is the Treasury. "Alexander Hamilton was the first United States Secretory of the Treasury, serving from 1789-1795," according to How Coins and Bills are Made. Did you know that the United States isn't the only place that makes our paper money? We also have help from B.E.P. or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, they are also part of the Department of the Treasury. Coins don't just go in your pocket after they are done being made. First they have to be inspected by a special person that works at the treasury with a magnifying glass. Now you know what is special about that paper and metal stuff in your pocket.

Mints and Mintmarks Look at that penny. Look again, what do you see? You'r probably saying the date, Abraham Lincoln, E Pluribus Unum, and in God we trust. But the thing most people don't pay attention to is that letter D. That letter D is what is known as a mint mark. It shows which mint it is from, D stands for Denver and S stands for San Francisco. There is only one one kind of coin that doesn't have a mint mark and that is if it's from Philadelphia because that is the first mint assigned by the government. There were some mints before it but they were not assigned by the government. Philadelphia was assigned a mint in 1772 because it was the capital of our country. The San Francisco mint opened in 1854 because in 1849 was the California gold rush. When that was happening everyone thought that they shouldn't give it all to Philadelphia they should make their own mint. When 1863 came the Denver mint came along because people noticed that there was gold there so everyone moved there. Now everyone will be impressed that you know which mint every coin was made.

This penny shows the D Mint mark showing it is from Denver. Philadelphia mint

Pennies Watch where you put me! Why's it dark in here? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm the Abraham Lincoln on the penny. A lot of people think my head is the only head on the penny in history and all pennies were copper, but that is not true. Lets start out in 1793 (when the real me wasn't alive) this is time the 1793 wreath reverse, 1793 Chain reverse, and the Liberty with cap type (1793-1796) large cents were used. Then in the 1800's came the Draped bust, (1796-1807) Classic head, (1808-1814) Matron head, (1816-1839) and Braided hair (1839-1957). In 1859 Indian head pennies rolled out these pennies are much smaller than large cents. They are as small as pennies today. They used a Native American because first they were going to use the flying eagle cent but that was to hard to make. They picked the Indian head because they didn't want to go hard on the mint and it would stamp easily. They were going to copy the facial features off Columbus but they thought people wouldn't approve it.

Men and women think that the engraver of the mint James B. Longacre's daughter wore a headdress of a Native American and he sketched her. Oops I almost forgot there are two different kinds of them Oak wreath and Laurel wreath. After these came what you are probably familiar with my cent. In 1909 it came out because that was my onehundredth birthday. On the reverse or back side of the coin was wheat. These pennies are called wheat pennies obviously. In 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944 the mints struck steel pennies because the military needed the copper for gun shells. If you have a steel penny struck in 1941 in perfect condition it is worth $47.50. Did I say they only used steel pennies during the war? They also used bronze but bronze is really 95% coper and the rest is zinc and tin. Now let's go all the way 1959 when they started putting the memorial on its reverse.

This penny is probably very familiar to you. On this penny the obverse or front side of the coin is still me. Now lets go 50 years in the future. This year they struck timeline pennies, these pennies are for my 200th birthday! (People are that nice to me.) There are 4 types of them Birth and early childhood, Formatted years in Indiana, Professional life in Illinois, and president in D.C. These pennies aren't that common because they were only made in 2009. In 2010 came the most common penny, the shield! This penny they still make. You probably thought there isn't this much information on a silly cent.

Timeline pennies

State Quarters You probably have seen quarters before, but have you seen state quarters? State quarters have a state name on the reverse side, the obverse is George Washington. I almost forgot to tell you that there also the 5 territories and D.C. one of the rarest is Guam a territory. Alabama had school children vote what their state quarter should look like, they picked Hellen Keller and their state flower. But New York had adults vote and they picked their state to be on it. There is a difference between a state quarter and a state park quarter. A state quarter has the state name in big letters on top, state park quarters have the state park name in big letters on top and the state in tiny letters on the side. State quarters don't get made any more. State park quarters still get made. Lastly state and state park quarters have a completely different picture. Now you can have all 56 state quarters.

Statepark name State name Different picture State name

Conclusion The day is beginning to end, the mints are shutting down and the workers are going home. But the only thing that's not finished with it's job is money. Isn't it amazing how much you learned today! You learned the history of pennies, about the treasury, about the mints, and you just finished learning about state quarters. Now you can be an expert like me.

Bibliography Source 1 How Coins and Bills are Made Tim Clifford 2009 Source 2 Google Images Source 3 YouTube Source 4 Wikipedia http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Large_cent_(United_States_coin) Source 5 Lincolneverything.com http://www.everythinglincoln.com/ collectibles/penny.html Park Quarters.com Source 6 http://www.parkquarters.com/olympic-national-park-quarter Mentalfloss.com Source 7http://mentalfloss.com/article/56815/stories-behind-all-50-state-quarters Source 8 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Indian_Head_cent