Penny Wise Quiz: In honor of Abraham Lincolns Birthday

They're everywhere. In jars, in junk drawers, under sofa cushions. Forty-two percent of the change you get back every day is handed out in pennies. What else do you know about the nation's most abundant coin? Answers, see below. 1. A penny stays in circulation for how many years? A. 30 years B. 50 years C. 10 years 2. True or false: If you dropped a penny off the Empire State Building and it hit a passing pedestrian 1,454 feet below, it would kill him. 3. What is the most a Lincoln penny has ever sold for at auction? A. $221,950 B. $373,750 C. $1.3 million 4. True or false: Sucking on a copper penny will fool a Breathalyzer test. 5. In 2005, Edmond Knowles cashed in his world-record collection of 1,308,459 pennies ($13,084.59) at a Coinstar in Flomaton, Alabama, because A. He needed to pay for home repairs B. 4.5 tons of pennies might be considered a complete collection C. His wife told him it was time D. All of the above 6. True or false: It costs the U.S. government 1.2 cents to make a 1-cent penny. 7. What year did the U.S. government start using steel in place of copper in pennies? A. 1943 B. 1929 C. 1960 8. The clich "a penny saved is a penny earned" is attributed to the same person who suggested the design for the first one-cent coin. Who is he? A. John Adams B. Benjamin Franklin C. Thomas Jefferson
LINCOLN QUIZ ANSWERS 1) A, although two out of three pennies printed in the past 30 years have vanished from circulation. 2) False. It might hurt, but a lightweight penny encounters too much wind resistance and isn't able to gather enough speed to deliver a killing blow. 3) B. A 1944-S Steel Cent. 4) False. Neither will a nickel, as some urban mythologists believe. 5) D. Knowles is considering collecting dimes. 6) True. 7. A, in 1943, the U.S. government started using steel in place of copper in pennies to conserve copper which was needed by the U.S. military during the height of World War II. 8. B, The first US penny was designed by Benjamin Franklin and minted in 1787 from pure copper. SOURCE: www.readersdigest.com/pennyquiz.