The Penny Is Dead [Some Sunday Context]

This Day (An America 250 History Show) · Nov 16, 2025 · 13m

Welcome to our Sunday Context series, where we try and bring you new conversations and episodes from the archives to give a little context for the news of the day. Today, a look at the very first one-cent coins, as the US minted the very last new penny.

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It’s April 20th. This day in 1787, Congress authorized the production of the country’s first coin.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the “Fugio cent,” designed — some say over-designed — by Ben Franklin, and what it meant for a new country to have a proper coin.

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