The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 33, August 15, 2004, Article 23

COPPER CENTS USED IN WINE TESTING

  Dick Johnson writes: "In sixty years I have been reading about
  Lincoln Cents I thought I had heard it all.  Not so. I thought I
  had  heard of every conceivable use of a Lincoln cent for
  nonmonetary purposes.  Like substituting a cent for a burnt-out
  fuse in a fuse box, as a temporary screwdriver, a paint can
  opener, or even left over from the days of the large cent ?
  placing a coin on the eyelid of a recently deceased person to
  assure the lid is shut before rigor mortis sets in.

  Well, in a story in the Indianapolis Star this week, food writer
  Patti Denton tells of a wine testing competition at the Indiana
  State Fairgrounds for the Governor?s Cup which ended August
  4th.  Thirteen judges had to test 3,644 wine entries. Judge
  Linda Jones McKee, who is president of a Pennsylvania
  winery group and has been testing wines for 12 years,
  disclosed this trick. In Patti Denton?s own words:

  ?One of her judging tricks caught the eye of a fellow first-time
  judge.  They had a wine that was producing a strong sulfur
  smell. McKee dropped a penny in the glass, which dissipates
  some of the aroma. For that reason, McKee tries to keep
  a penny minted before 1995, when the copper content was
  higher.  Unfortunately the coin revealed some other faults the
  wine had as well, she said.?

  The next time a sommelier serves me a glass of wine that
  smells like vinegar would it help if I dumped all my pocket
  change in the glass?"

  Full Article

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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