Comments for Penny Portrait

Comment on Dr. Oz Penny Portrait by Paul Steffen

Paul Steffen — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 06:41:40 +0000

This is awsome and cheap cost pennies

Comment on Kickstart my Art by Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 03:58:34 +0000

Do you make custom size penny portrait kits? Please respond or email. I would appreciate if you did because I would like to order a custom kit if available. Thank you.

Comment on Science Fair Challenge – $50 Prize by maurymccoy

maurymccoy — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 16:07:26 +0000

In reply to Roberto Ribeiro Aragon. I wonder if there is a way to darken the pennies without scratching the surface of them? Excited to experiment though. I've never thought about loading up a solution with Cu ions... Though I think it is the Oxygen that actually makes the outside dark. I should have paid more attention in Chemistry!

Comment on Science Fair Challenge – $50 Prize by maurymccoy

maurymccoy — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:40:41 +0000

In reply to Roberto Ribeiro Aragon. Holy cow, you might be onto something here. I've never tried a chemical reaction that releases more copper into the solution to make pennies darker. Looks like I've got some experimenting to do to see if this could work for everyday folks who want to make a Penny Portrait. Exciting! I'll let you know if I can get it to work.

Comment on Science Fair Challenge – $50 Prize by Roberto Ribeiro Aragon

Roberto Ribeiro Aragon — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:38:44 +0000

maybe that will solve the problem
http://nobel.scas.bcit.ca/wiki/index.php/Penny_reactions

Comment on Science Fair Challenge – $50 Prize by maurymccoy

maurymccoy — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 12:56:36 +0000

In reply to Steven Martinez. I've actually tried this. It tends to make them BLACK, as in jet black. They don't look natural.

Comment on Science Fair Challenge – $50 Prize by Steven Martinez

Steven Martinez — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 06:30:27 +0000

Liver of sulfur.

Comment on Science Fair Challenge – $50 Prize by maurymccoy

maurymccoy — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 16:49:56 +0000

In reply to Chris Jenks.

Interesting… Off to find some hydrogen peroxide! (I have some sodium percarbonate here, so that might work as well…)

Comment on Science Fair Challenge – $50 Prize by Chris Jenks

Chris Jenks — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 22:35:56 +0000

Pennies darken over time due to reaction of copper with oxygen in the air. Then they can become green due to further reaction with carbon dioxide. Dark pennies become shiny again when treated with acid because the dark copper oxide reacts with acid to make a copper salt, which can then dissolve off. So treatment with base is not likely to help. A few ideas I would like to suggest as starting points for a student would be to try heating pennies for an extended period to help then react with oxygen, or perhaps heating them in hydrogen peroxide.

Comment on The definitive guide to penny floor costs by maurymccoy

maurymccoy — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 15:07:26 +0000

In reply to Mavin Johnson.

maurymccoy on February 11, 2019 at 3:07 pm (Edit)
Absolutely correct. If you wanted the heavier pre-1982 cents there’s a bit of work involved, but honestly if you sealed the pennies there is probably very little difference visually. (Also, if you’re making any kind of pattern, chances are the shinier pennies will be post 1982.)

That said, I’ve run into groups of folks commonly called “penny hoarders” who have rooms full of “true” copper pennies waiting to arbitrage the price of that metal some day.. Folks quite literally have Scrooge McDuck bags of pennies in spare rooms filled with pennies.

Someone even markets a penny sorter to do the hard work of picking those pennies out. Check it out.

https://youtu.be/Xu0SWe_VUlQ?t=66