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anna mehler paperny From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published Friday, Mar. 30, 2012 10:29PM EDT Last updated Friday, Mar. 30, 2012 10:39PM EDT

Pity the penny: In the past 15 years its lost its copper, its usage and its cost-effectiveness the butt of jokes and bane of neat freaks well before its end became official in Thursdays federal budget.

Despite its lowly monetary status, the penny is a high-maintenance bit of metal. It is by far the most expensive Canadian coin to produce, relative to its value. At a cost of a little over 1.6 cents per penny, its the only piece of currency in the country that now costs more than its value to make.

While the news of the pennys phase-out came as a surprise even to the Royal Canadian Mint, the analysts and coin-crafters in charge of Canadas money say theyve known for years its days were numbered.

Penny evolution

The pennies immortalized in overused sayings were primarily of the copper variety. But Canadas modern one-cent piece bears little resemblance to that traditional composition.

Originally 95.5-per-cent copper in 1908, the penny went from 98-per-cent copper in 1996 to 98.4-per-cent zinc and 1.6-per-cent copper plating in 1997. Its now 94-per-cent steel, 1.5-per-cent nickel and 4.5-per-cent copper plating or copper-plated zinc. With the price of copper rising, it just doesnt make financial sense to use the metal on such small-fry currency.

Apart from drastic changes in its makeup, however, the pennys surface design on the tails side has barely changed since 1937, when G.E. Kruger-Gray made the twig-and-maple-leaf thats on todays coins (if youre really bored, take a close look at those leaves: His initials are in teensy font on the right).

A familiar face

Susanna Blunt remembers seeing the first penny she designed, in a fistful of change while grocery shopping in the fall of 2003.

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A penny spurned