Alas, dear penny, you served us well.

We picked you up, you gave us luck.

We gave you to others in exchange for their thoughts.

And remember when we pondered whether dropping you from the Empire State Building could kill a pedestrian? That was fun. (More on that later.)

Now you are dead — but not gone (more on that later, too) — at the wizened age of 232. When polished, you look as young as when you were first minted, but you are worth less to us now, and we've moved on to greater expenses. The nation once used you to pay Union soldiers in the Civil War; now, you barely buy a gumball (and only in bulk!).

Like nearly all Americans, you descended from an immigrant, the British penny. Those coins were once so valuable that they were split into halves and even quarters — your late Briti

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