Special to The Desert Sun

With all the recent news about the U.S. Mint discontinuing the Lincoln cent, coins have become a frequent topic of conversation around here. If it seems a straightforward enough decision — the mint loses more than two cents for every one cent coin it makes, and nobody uses them much anymore anyway — it's not quite that simple.

The cost of minting and distributing the Jefferson nickel is more than twice its face value, and countless things will have to be recalculated, reprinted and repriced. As for collecting pre-1959 wheat cents, more than 26 billion were minted during its 1909-1958 run so they're not exactly scarce. Still, people ask for them every day in galleries like ours, and they're kinda fun to sort through while you're watching TV. So, there you are.

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