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The penny, also known as the cent, is a coin in the United States representing one-hundredth of a dollar.It has been the lowest face-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition of the half-cent in 1857 (the abstract mill, which has never been minted, equal to a tenth of a cent, continues to see limited use in the fields of taxation and finance).
On the reverse of the copper coins, there express the denomination of the coin as one-cent or half-cent. [4] The Act specified the issuing of three gold coins comprising a $10 gold coin called an "eagle", a $5 coin called a "half eagle", and a $2.5 coin called a "quarter eagle". [5]
The United States large cent was a coin with a face value of 1/100 of a United States dollar. Its nominal diameter was 1 1 ⁄ 8 inch (28.57 mm). The first official mintage of the large cent was in 1793, and its production continued until 1857, when it was officially replaced by the modern-size one-cent coin (commonly called the penny).
So long as there was a shortage of coins, the Mint could strike dimes, quarters, and half dollars from .900 silver, but this authority was to end once the secretary certified there was an adequate supply of the new coins in circulation, and in any event five years after the law was enacted (thus, ending July 23, 1970).
First authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792 on April 2, 1792, [1] the coin was produced in the United States from 1793 to 1857. The half-cent piece was made of 100% copper and half of a cent, or one two-hundredth of a dollar (five milles).
Some merchants would refuse to accept coins that did not meet this standard. [2] For most denominations, bullion parity was achieved by producing the coins in a gold or silver alloy. However, the Coinage Act of 1792 specified that the cent was to consist of 11 pennyweight (264 grains or 17.1 g) of pure copper. [7]
Finally, amid the Napoleonic Wars, the government authorized Matthew Boulton to mint copper pennies and twopences at Soho Mint in Birmingham in 1797. [21] Typically, 1 lb. of copper produced 24 pennies. In 1860, the copper penny was replaced with a bronze one (95% copper, 4% tin, 1% zinc). Each pound of bronze was coined into 48 pennies. [22]
A currency [a] is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. [1] [2] A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. [3]