Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Fithy Lucre


I still use currency and coin. I enjoy the feel of the paper money, the roundness of coins. I enjoy actually exchanging something tangible for tangible goods I purchase. Since the economic downtown began, I have noticed that when I receive change, there frequently are corroded coins included. Turquoise-rimed copper-coated zinc discs filtched from the gutters now cover the top of the pile of coins in our change jar. Nicked and darkened dimes are mixed in too.

When we were kids, and pennies were still made of copper, we would put them in our mouths - until Mom caught us one day and her horrified expression stopped that practice. The metalic taste was heavenly. But even we wouldn't put these tattered coins in our mouths.

There has been talk in recent years of abolishing the humble penny. There are many sensible reasons to do it, but these days, it seems though every penny counts, every though they actually cost close to 1.2 cents to make. It is said that the main proponent of elimination of the penny was a former Arizona congressperson in the pocket of big Arizona copper, and that the opponents of the ban are big Tennesse zinc. The nickel has more copper than nickel in its makeup, and the penny is a copper-coated disc of zinc. The merits of either position are stage dressing for the real lives of the actors, it seems. Filthy lucre indeed.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh what memories that brought back! I remember building penny houses. Or atleast trying to. It was really difficult to get those pennies to stack up and form walls. Thanks for the great post!

beegirl said...

Oh, Eryka, what a lovely memory! Thanks for sharing. I am going to build some penny houses tonight! Or try to.