Magnificent
Money
By Niko A. Kontos
Table of Contents
Introduction 5
Treasury
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
Different picture
State name
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
Quarters.com
Source 6 Park
http://www.parkquarters.com/olympic-national-park-quarter
Source 7 Mentalfloss.com
http://mentalfloss.com/article/56815/stories-behind-all-50-state-quarters
Source 8
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Indian_Head_cent