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The coin’s last stop after the Mint will be a foundry, which will melt the pennies down and recycle the metal.

They should start showing up at the Mint in huge volumes soon, but the whole process could take years.

“We have never done this in Canada,” Mint spokeswoman Christine Aquino told the Vancouver Province. “We estimate three to four years [to get pennies out of circulation].”

The move comes nearly a year after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the demise of the penny, whose production cost came to exceed its monetary value: it cost 1.6 cents to make each penny.

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Pennies produced in a year:

1908 – 2,401,506

– 2,401,506 1910 – 5,146,487

– 5,146,487 1920 – 22,246,170

– 22,246,170 1930 – 2,538,613

– 2,538,613 1940 – 85,740,532

– 85,740,532 1950 – 60,444,992

– 60,444,992 1960 – 75,772,775

– 75,772,775 1970 – 344,145,010

– 344,145,010 1980 – 911,800,000

– 911,800,000 1990 – 218,035,000

– 218,035,000 2000 – 902,506,000

– 902,506,000 2011 – 662,750,000

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But as it faces extinction in the pockets and tills of most Canadians, the humble penny is still in demand in some artistic circles where it retains significant value.

Renee Gruszecki, a Halifax-based academic and archivist, has spent the past year making a living through a jewellery business devoted primarily to preserving the country’s stray cents.

About 30,000 strategically sorted pennies fill Gruszecki’s home and eventually find their way into the accessories produced at Coin Coin Designs and Co.

Gruszecki, a long-time collector of lucky pennies, believes her pieces will help preserve a symbol that is both an object of superstition and a Canadian icon.