The penny is dead.
The one-cent coin, which could once buy penny candy (and let's be honest not much else, at least in this writer's lifetime), is no longer being produced and will begin to go out of circulation on Feb. 4. Businesses will no longer be providing pennies as change, instead rounding up or down to the nearest nickel.
While some nostalgic penny pinchers are saddened by the development, a number of artists, designers and craftspeople have found new ways to commemorate the coin through their creations. And since the penny's status as legal tender -- which by law cannot be destroyed or altered -- is now no longer in place, they appear free to use the penny in whatever fashion they desire.
Following is a collection of responses, reactions and inspired works, all connected in one way or another to the demise of the penny.
