Pennies And Nickels

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As far as US (and Canadian) coinage is concerned, the answer is relatively simple: "penny" is a slang term for a 1 cent coin (just as "nickel" is a slang term for a 5 cent coin and "benjamin" is a slang term for a $100 note). "Cent" is it's denomination and it's official title.

For foreign coins, the answer is almost as simple. A "penny" was (between 1798 and 1970) a large bronze or copper coin worth 1/240th of a pound. These pennies are no longer in use anywhere in the world. Some confusion arises from a second monetary unit, also called the "penny", adopted when Britain and it's dependencies went decimal in 1971. This "decimal penny" or "new penny" is worth 1/100th of a pound, and is therefore the "British equivalent of a cent". "Penny" is not used as a slang word for "cent" anywhere outside of North America. I should also point out that "cent" is not used as a slang word for "penny", either.

The only difficulty arises is when people (particularly people from North America) are ambiguous about whether they are talking about American coins or not.

Using the word "penny" in the "North American" parts of this forum (Classic and Modern US coins, and the Canadian section) causes no ambiguity; if you say "I've got a 1930 penny" in the US subforums, everyone there knows you're talking about a Lincoln Cent dated 1930.

However, in the "International" subforums of CCF (including right here in the "Main forum", that statement is ambiguous. Do you mean a British penny, an Australian penny, a South African penny... or are you using the word as a slang term for a US cent? We can't tell, and would need to ask for further clarification or (even worse) give you wrong information, like answering "Wow, a 1930 penny is extremely rare and valuable". That would be true, if you were talking about an Australian 1930 penny. But not a British penny, or a US cent.

It always amuses me when I hear Americans say they've found an Australian or British "large cent". Britain has never issued "cents", and Australia has never issued "large" ones. The coins are "pennies", and they say so quite clearly on the coins themselves. Apparently, some Americans have been reading the word "cent" and saying "penny" for so long, the words have become interchangeable in their heads, so that when they see the word "penny" on a coin, they say "cent".

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The 2014 edition of the United States Mint Proof Set features:

*The fifth annual release of five quarters in the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program
*The eighth annual release of four coins in the Presidential $1 Coin Program
*One Native American $1 Coin, Kennedy half-dollar, Roosevelt dime, Jefferson nickel, and Lincoln penny

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[Frankly,] my dear, I don't give a darn.