The Penny Shortage of 1974

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

Anyone else here ever heard of this? I read about it in a book last night. I can post the text if anyone is interested.

 

[CHAINCHOMP]

i would be interested actually...thank you very much! keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

 

[sitman]

Yes, I was coin roll hunting at that time and remember it well. I had about $80 in cents that I would take to the bank whenever we went to town (I grew up in a rural area). The banks were paying a 5% premium on larger amounts of cents like mine, and I was asked on several occasions if I wanted to sell mine. Because of the shortage, I could not dump at one bank and then re-buy at another bank, so I would simply trade my cents for the bank's cents.

 

[sitman]

Does your article give the reason(s) for the shortage? I recall that the blame was placed on the rather common practice at that time of people saving all of the cents received in change in a large bottle or box, and then cashing them in when a large enough quantity was accumulated in order to purchase some item which there never seemed to be enough money to purchase after the bills were paid.

 

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

Does your article give the reason(s) for the shortage? I recall that the blame was placed on the rather common practice at that time of people saving all of the cents received in change in a large bottle or box, and then cashing them in when a large enough quantity was accumulated in order to purchase some item which there never seemed to be enough money to purchase after the bills were paid.

I am going to scan the pages and post them shortly for all to read. I thought it was interesting as well.

 

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

 

[sitman]

Thanks for the article. The 1974-S cent was the last business strike San Francisco cent, so if that were known when issued, that would explain the hoarding and premiums. Because of the price of copper, in 1973 the Mint experimented with making cents out of various aluminum alloys. Ultimately, 1.5 million 1974 dated cents were minted. An attempt was made to get back the ones given to various government officials and congressmen, but with limited success. None have ever been officially sold at auction as there is some question of their legality as they were never released to the public.

 

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

Thanks for the article. The 1974-S cent was the last business strike San Francisco cent, so if that were known when issued, that would explain the hoarding and premiums. Because of the price of copper, in 1973 the Mint experimented with making cents out of various aluminum alloys. Ultimately, 1.5 million 1974 dated cents were minted. An attempt was made to get back the ones given to various government officials and congressmen, but with limited success. None have ever been officially sold at auction as there is some question of their legality as they were never released to the public.

I was recently the victim of a cruel numismatic joke when I came across what I thought for a moment was an aluminum 1974 penny. I was crushed when it hit the scale. Some jerk plated the thing I guess... lol

 

[yonico]

hahaaha i LOL'd when i read about the people coming back with sticks of candy to pay for their purchases

 

[mdj]

I remember this, I was 14 and had been hoarding pennies for awhile. There were banks around here offering 75 cents per 50 cent roll. I thought I would wait until they offered more. It didnt seem to last very long though and I missed out. Oh well.