I feel a loss knowing that my kids will not see 'green' pennies. This might be the same loss one might have felt when the wheat penny was discontinued. I have never seen a buffalo nickel.

Back when Lincoln Memorial pennies were made of copper, they would age green. Since 1983, it has moved from 95% copper to 97.5 zinc (with a copper coat). It doesn't age like the copper penny, it doesn't sound like a copper penny when it falls out of your pocket, it doesn't taste like a copper penny... and copper tastes terrible.

I know that one day the penny will disappear and will be the catalyst to mass inflation... but as an item the zinc penny doesn't age. Things that don't change bother me. You have to keep moving on to the next thing - better or worse. If things remained the same, why keeping do it? You know what's coming.