Did this penny have a story?
I was out working in the garden the other night, pulling weeds and cultivating soil. I happened to look down and see a coin lying on top of the crust near a cabbage plant. I bent down to look at it and was surprised to see its design.
It has a wreath on it, with “one cent” printed in the center. Near the top is what looks like a crest of some kind, which was shaped somewhat similar to the signs marking interstates across this country. Intrigued, I picked it up and flipped it over.
On its front is what appears to be a bust of an American Indian with a well-decorated headdress, and I was immediately excited to be seeing an Indian head penny for the first time. I stuck it in my pocket so I wouldn’t lose it and continued down the row. I couldn’t help but scan the rest of the ground for other treasures, though none appeared to me.
While I worked, I thought about that coin. Dated 1903, it was made more than 100 years ago, though I could see no visible mint mark that would tell me where. Other than a little bit of dirt, it is relatively uncorroded and in pretty good shape. That part kind of surprised me, due in part to its age and part to what it has gone through in its years spent in my garden.
For at least the past 10 years, it has endured repeated plowing, tilling and hoeing. It has had children and dogs running over top of it, had plants and seeds planted near it, and has had manure dumped on it at least once a year.
Torrential rains two years ago washed much of the topsoil out of our garden, down through the yard and over the wall into the road. We spent that fall adding composted dirt and manure to the garden area, trying to rebuild it. I wondered, did the penny survive the washout, or get brought in with the compost from the field?
Who was the last person to hold that coin? A farmer, like myself? A neighbor visiting for the day? Though we don’t revere the penny any longer, it was, at one time, a lot of money to many people.
Maybe it belonged to a small child who had earned that penny for completing a task. Did they cry when they realized they had lost it?
That thought really resonated with me. I remember earning coins for sweeping the barn, smashing pop cans or polishing brass for my grandfather and how slowly those coins added up. I would have been devastated had I lost them after working for them for so long.
In fact, I had once saved up enough nickels to roll and was very excited to have two dollars to spend. One morning, I realized the roll of coins was gone from my dresser. After much searching, I discovered that they must have rolled off the bureau and into my garbage can – which had been emptied into the wood stove and burned. I spent a long time sifting through our ash bucket in search of my hard-earned coins. I never did find them all, and I felt that loss much like I imagine this penny’s former owner may have.
Despite all indications that this penny is neither very rare, nor worth much more than face value, those questions and possible stories make it a valuable addition to my collection.
Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@hughes.net.