Well after literally hudredes of thousands of responses from all over the world, the pennies have finally been counted. There was a lot of quality science thrown in many of these entries, and there were some touched hunches as well. I’m humbled not only by my readers’ enthusiasm, but also by their remarkable aptitude for estimating the number of pennies in a bottle they’d never seen. Most of you were closer than I was to the actual total, and I’ve looked at those copper coins under green glass every day for fifteen years. They sit on a dresser right above my sock drawer, and I’m in-and-out of my sock drawer all the time. Still, I wasn’t as close to the money total as almost 60% of you were. I won’t be getting a tuba any time soon.
There were a couple of very close guesses, but even with the $2.10 non-penny margin ( mostly dimes mostly admitted to by my saboteuring wife ) Julia Poland from right here in Bellingham Washington beat the next-closest penny pitcher by more than an American dollar. Continue reading