Legend has it that a penny brings good fortune, and this Irish Luck Penny, encased in Connemara marble, is sure to bring the luck of the Irish.

Seems like the marble part would make it hard to "spend", don't you think? Oh, maybe that's the whole idea! You can't accidentally give this out in change, now can you?

Here's a little bit of US history - in 1943 war time, steel pennies were minted due to expectations of a copper shortage. This Steel Cents Collection of 5 pennies (minted in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver) was never placed into circulation.

The current US penny is zinc with a copper plating. Did you know that in the 1970's they considered making them out of aluminum? A very small quantity were minted but never circulated. These aluminum pennies are now considered illegal and are subject to seizure by the Secret Service. Wow!

Today is Lucky Penny Day.  It is said that if you pick up a penny from the ground that is face up, that penny will bring you luck.  These days that's about all a penny is worth.  I'm not old enough to remember but I heard that way back when a piece of candy cost a penny.  Oh the good ole' days.

Question, why do people save pennies, jars and jars of pennies?  Very rarely when you buy something does it come out to an even number, why not use your pennies for that?