Today (23rd May) is Lucky Penny Day. You may have heard of this superstition: “See a penny, pick it up, All day long you’ll have good luck.” The modern form of the one pence coin was introduced back on the 15th February 1971. So, if you see a penny showing its head pick it up, or turn it to its head-side for someone else to get pick up and get the luck! As another saying goes: “Look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves!”
Detail of a penny. Photograph taken by Vince O’Sullivan, January 2010. Via Flickr under Creative Commons License 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)
Here are some weird and wonderful ‘penny’ titles found in SUNCAT.
- Captain George’s penny dreadful.
- The penny share letter.
- Cobbett’s penny trash …
- Two Knaves for a Penny.
- The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
- The Penny punter.
- A penny saved.
- Penny pincher world wide.
- Penny stock detectives.
- A bad penny review.
- Mingaye Syder’s temperance lancet and penny trumpet.
- Sun penny saver.
- The Penny melodist.
- The Golden Penny Comic.
- Penny a Peep.
- Penny dreadful : tales and poems of fantastic terror.
- Paddy Kelly’s budget; or, A penny-worth of fun!!
- Cameron’s A-B-C Penny Time Tables.
- A choice penny-worth of wit. In three parts.
- A groatsworth of wit for a penny; or, the interpretation of dreams.
- Horrors; or, “The Penny Horrible”. : An anti-comic weekly blood curdler.
- The pinball player and penny slot collector: the monthly magazine of the Pinball Owners’ Association (incorporating the Penny Slot Preservation Society).
- One penny-worth of truth, from Thomas Bull to his brother John.
- Two penny-worth of truth for a penny; or a true state of facts: with an apology for Tom Bull in a letter to brother John.
For more penny-themed journals, and weird, and lots more besides, take a look in SUNCAT.