I stopped by my credit union to buy a box of pennies. When I asked the teller for a box he asked me why I wanted them, and "Are you a collector?" My first reaction was to think, Why don't you come outside with me real quick so I can teach you a lesson about minding your own business that your Mommy and Daddy obviously didn't teach you...But I just said, I like to find the old ones. Then he said that he had a 1916 and I relaxed. He said he got in change somewhere. Oh, he's probably 25 or 26, a little older than me.
He then said that he had found another 1916 penny in the reject catcher on the credit union's coin counter. He just put it in a drawer in the back, he said. So I asked, Can I buy it? He said OK!
He brought it out with the $25 box and it's in good shape. Lincoln's face is smooth and the ear is almost gone, but the date is clearly visible.
My cost? One cent. The credit union just traded me a 2017 penny for a 1916 penny! It's a great keeper.