CBC: The death of the Canadian penny [View all]

[pampango]

Obituary: Canadian penny, 1858-2013
Royal Canadian Mint stops distributing the copper-coloured coin on Feb. 4

The penny's demise had been anticipated since March 29, 2012, when federal Finance Minister James Flaherty announced in the budget that his government had decided to phase out the smallest denomination of Canada's currency.

The Canadian penny traces its origins to 1858, when the then-province of Canada adopted the decimal system for its currency. Initially, it was struck at the Royal Mint in Great Britain. The 1858 penny had Queen Victoria on the obverse (or "heads&quot side and a vine of maple leaves on the reverse (or "tails&quot side.

Penny production moved to Canada in 1908, when the Ottawa branch of the British Royal Mint opened. Countess Grey, the wife of Canada's governor general at the time, struck the first penny at the mint's official opening on Jan. 2. Until 1997, the penny's composition was at least 95.5 per cent copper.

The year 2006 was a significant one for the Canadian penny, as it reached peak production. More than 1.26 billion pennies were minted that year. The last penny was minted in Winnipeg on May 4, 2012.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/01/31/f-penny-obit.html

Can the US penny be far behind?