Penny for your thoughts? For artist Jacqueline Lou Skaggs, that's exactly what our lowliest coin is useful for.
She has taken old pennies and American cents and painted portraits and landscapes on the smallest of surfaces.
"This small body of 12 works consist of images painted on found, discarded pennies," she explains.
Putting art on a price?
"The pictures pay homage to not only the binding ideologies that define our family, religious, social and political worlds, but also to the resonating mythological powers of traditional painting and miniature picture making - much like the Dutch oils on copper from the 17th century."
Not that painting on coins makes pricing art any easier. According to Skaggs, "these iconic images transcend the coins' value while, to some extent, defacing it."
Which we guess means she can expect more than the RRP should these mini paintings ever go to auction...