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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Burgess, post: 7579582, member: 105098&quot;]Let me start by saying this is just my opinion, and may or may not be based in absolute fact, it&#039;s what I gather from reading on coinage and the year 1857.</p><p><br /></p><p>it was in 1857, they ditched the half cent and downsized the large cents. mostly to save against the rising cost of copper. I have no idea what it cost them to make the half cent in 1857 though, but it&#039;s mentioned as a real concern for some reason. </p><p><br /></p><p>At the time the half cent was discontinued, it had the buying power still of today&#039;s dime and was about the size of a quarter, while the large cent were almost the size of a half dollar. cost, and composition/weight and buying power I suppose all have an effect, but seriously, half cents even today have a copper melt value around 6-7 cents. flowing hair large cents are like 15 cents melt value. this was a problem back then and now still. it wasn&#039;t so much that a half cent was so expensive to make, although that was a factor, but by 1857, it was becoming obsolete in commerce as a unit of measure. people used them, but they didn&#039;t have to use them anymore. the large cent was far more used day to day by then, and people wanted the large cent to be smaller. </p><p><br /></p><p>1857 was a big year really, they discontinued the half cent, resized the large cent, banned foreign coins in commerce in the Coinage Act of 1857,&nbsp; when we finally got our act together on our own currency and set upon having a supply of it that would be functional for business in this country. the coinage act of 1857 basically killed the non-decimal system accounting of some foreign coin designs of other countries at the time, which would of required fractions of cents in order to make change correctly.</p><p>&nbsp;Had they not put their foot down on foreign coin being used, who knows we might still have the half cent and actually need it for something besides maybe a gas station on certain purchases of fuel. everything they have officially discontinued was totally unnecessary or redundant at the time they discontinued it. </p><p><br /></p><p>It might cost more to make a cent than it&#039;s worth, but I really don&#039;t want to give up 4 cents to anyone and round up to 5 cents either.&nbsp; and for sure, the nickel is next unless they start making the nickel on cent planchets. </p><p><br /></p><p>all just the way I see it and my opinion of course.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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