Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struck the final five pennies on Wednesday—each bearing a rare omega mark—ending U.S. penny production and creating collector’s items that could fetch millions at auction.
The penny, which was first authorized under the Coinage Act of 1792, was recently discontinued due to rising production costs over the last decade. The tiny coin now costs nearly four cents to make, but is only worth one cent.
While experts estimated the auction value of the final copper-colored tokens between $2 million and $5 million, according to USA Today, other coin collectors said the estimates seem unrealistic.
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Philadelphia-area numismatist Richard Weaver, owner of Broomall’s Delaware Valley Rare Coin Company, told phillymag.com when U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beech posed for a photo holding one of the final pennies, he may have damaged it.
"If you look at that photo, he is holding the penny with his fingers on the coin," Weaver told the outlet. "You just don’t do that. Copper is very reactive to sweat and the oils of the skin, and any serious collector is going to take this photo into consideration."
Weaver hypothesized that since the pennies were made for a ceremonial purpose and will never enter circulation, their value may decrease.
"You see, they were made for this purpose," Weaver said. "They were made to be rare. When you see people paying in the millions for coins, they are paying for coins that are 100 or 200 years old, of which only a handful are known to exist and that have survived for so many years without anyone making them for that purpose in 1933 or 1794."
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Officials with the U.S. Department of the Treasury said the rare handful of coins will be auctioned off by the government at a later date, though it has not yet been announced.
President Donald Trump in February announced plans to halt production of the one-cent coins.
"For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies."
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In fiscal year 2024, the penny accounted for 57% of the Mint’s total circulating coin production of 5.61 billion coins.
Based on the most recent estimates, the U.S. Mint expects to save approximately $56 million per year in production costs by nixing the coin, according to its website.
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The penny can still be used for transactions, and those in circulation will continue to be handled until the end of their 30-year lifespan.
The Mint said it will also continue to produce collector versions of the penny in limited quantities.
