Unfortunate timing, perhaps. The country's financial crisis and the staggering bailout proposal using taxpayer dollars quickly drew attention to an old debate over the penny's actual value and utility.
It now costs 1.4 cents to make each coin of copper-plated zinc, as specified by law, said U.S. Mint spokeswoman Carla Coolman in Washington. Calculate that out and the 5 billion pennies - $50 million worth - minted so far this year cost about $70 million to make.
The Treasury is quick to point out that it has requested authority to use cheaper materials to make pennies. It also says the cost of implementing a new design is "nominal." The nickel is even worse - last year, it cost 9.5 cents, on average, to make one.
Lay the blame, or credit, on Congress. The new designs were mandated under the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, Coolman said.
Shortly before that vote, a 2004 Harris poll found 59 percent of Americans favored keeping the penny. A more recent poll, commissioned in 2007 by a private coin-counting firm, Coinstar Inc., put support at 66 percent.
Where the sentiment might land today, amid the financial crisis, is anybody's guess. Experts and officials are acutely attuned to the issue. Several bills now pending in Congress would allow the Mint to change the coin's composition, and one would require use of steel and copper coloring.
Gary Adkins, president of the Professional Numismatists Guild, told the Cox News Service that "a penny doesn't get you anything anymore," even if the new designs may appeal to enthusiasts.
Lincoln's face won't change, but on Feb. 12 - 200 years after the 16th president was born, and 100 years after the Lincoln debuted - the first of four new images will begin appearing on the reverse.
Gone will be the Lincoln Memorial. Each new penny image will represent a stage in Lincoln's life, starting with a log cabin representing his Kentucky childhood.
