Three Practical Uses for All Those Useless Coins
Physical money seems increasingly old-fashioned: Cash isn’t quite dead yet, but its use has been declining for years as people increasingly rely on cards and apps to pay for their things. While paper money and even some more expensive coins still exist in circulation, there is one unit of physical currency that has become almost absurd in its uselessness: the humble penny. Currently, it costs almost three cents to make one , and all they do is accumulate in jars and junk drawers.
Of course, pennies are still money , and you can cash them out at a Coinstar machine (for a fee) or at your bank (if you’re willing to pay yourself below minimum wage to roll them up). But in reality, there are other uses for the pennies that accumulate in your life.
Sell them
Officially, every penny is worth exactly one cent. In reality, not all coins are created equal, and some of the coins you have in this jar may be worth a lot more:
Penny before 1982. Until early 1982, the US penny was approximately 95% copper. Copper actually costs a fair amount of money – currently $2 to $3 per pound. It takes about 150 old pennies to make a pound, so the math works. Except, of course, for the fact that melting down nickels and pennies for profit is actually illegal (you can melt them down for other purposes ). Most legitimate scrap metal dealers won’t accept a dime , and even melting them down at home probably won’t work, because most scrap copper comes in the form of tubing, piping and other building materials—dealers are leery of the odd lumpy copper. bar.
But! You can still make some money from old coins because there is a market for them. A quick look at eBay will show you plenty of people selling old coins in bulk for a reasonable profit (many of these sales involve “apocalypse preparers” who think the metal will have value when civilization collapses). Case in point: in 2022, a Los Angeles family found a million pennies in their father’s old house. They were worth $10,000 on paper and the family sold them (they had originally asked $25,000 due to the possibility of finding rare pennies in the mix, but would not comment on the final sale price).
Rare pennies. If you have a bunch of old coins lying around, it might be worth going through them to find rare pieces that could be worth a decent amount of money on their own. While grading coins effectively requires an expert’s eye, there are a few quick things you can pay attention to:
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Wheat pennies. Minted between 1909 and 1958, the “wheat” coin features two stalks of wheat on the reverse side. All “wheats” are worth something ( about four cents each), and some wheats are worth thousands of dollars. Some of the truly very rare examples can be worth millions . If your change jar has a lot of wheat in it, it might be worth checking with your retailer to see if it’s actually worth anything. If not, you can still make some money by selling them in bulk for more than just pennies.
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Rarities and small editions. It requires a lot more work, but identifying rare coins by mint mark, date, and errors such as double die strikes (which create a “double” effect on the lettering) can help distinguish truly valuable coins from the rest. While you can try your hand at this, you’ll still have to consult an expert to find out if your penny is truly worth it or if it’s just curiosity.
Lay them out with tiles
Of course, pennies have more than just monetary value. Even if the metal coins from which modern coins are made are not very valuable, coins have one impressive use in home design: as tiles. For example, if you’re considering penny tile flooring in your home, using real penny tiles results in an affordable, durable, and amazing-looking floor .
Pennies can also be used to decorate table tops , mirror frames and anything else. The key is to clean and polish the coins before you plate them, because that sparkling copper sheen will make these coins sell as decor rather than as spare change. Luckily, cleaning coins is pretty easy: you just need some white vinegar, some salt, and a rag .
Weights
If you’ve actually tried to take pennies to your bank to cash them out, you know that pennies can be surprisingly heavy. After all, they are made of metal. However, if you have a bunch of coins lying around, you can use their mass to your advantage by turning them into flexible and effective weights. By inserting coins into the hem, you can straighten the curtains and make them hang properly, and due to the modular nature of coins, you can add or subtract them until you have inserted the exact amount for the desired effect. Likewise, coins can be glued or otherwise attached to anything you want to add weight to—from lightweight chains that bounce too much when you yank them, to unobtrusive paperweights that keep your documents from flying around the room.
Another way to use coins as weights? When you bake. If you plan to blind bake your pie crust, you may need pie weights to keep the crust from bubbling or puffing up. But if you have a bunch of old coins, you don’t need to spend money on special weights—just line a crust with parchment paper or foil and put a few coins in there (you can wash them first if you want, but they won’t work). I don’t touch the crust), and ta-da! The perfect pie crust and a set of reusable pie weights.