PENNIES COULD BE WORTH UP TO $5 MILLION AFTER FINAL COINS WERE MINTED THIS WEEK
The United States Mint struck its final batch of circulating pennies this week with the tiny copper-colored coins now expected to ignite a frenzy of collectors, speculators and investors chasing pieces that experts say could sell for as much as $5 million.
The historic moment unfolded on Wednesday inside the Philadelphia Mint, where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pressed the last five pennies ever made for circulation, each stamped with a small omega symbol.
The mark designates them as the final coins of their kind after 232 uninterrupted years of penny production.
The Mint's ceremonial presses came to a stop shortly afterward, ending an era that began under the Coinage Act of 1792.
Government officials confirmed the final coins will head straight to auction where the rarest pieces, the first and last struck, and a selection of ceremonial editions could command astonishing sums.
According to USA Today, early estimates place their likely sale value between $2 million and $5 million per coin, although within hours of the announcement, expert numismatists began pouring cold water on the sky-high predictions.
Philadelphia-area coin expert Richard Weaver, owner of Delaware Valley Rare Coin Company, said collectors would scrutinize every physical detail of the newly minted pieces - including how they were handled by government officials.
Weaver criticized an official photo showing US Treasurer Brandon Beach holding one of the final pennies directly between his fingertips.
'If you look at that photo, he is holding the penny with his fingers on the coin,' Weaver said.
'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 also questioned the long-term value of coins designed from the outset to be rare.
'They were made for this purpose,' he said. '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.'
Still, government officials insist the coins' significance - the literal end of the American penny, will drive intense demand.
Mint Acting Director Kristie McNally said the 'first and last' coins to be auctioned could bring in around $100,000, with proceeds funding Mint operations.
She added that the full details of the December auction will be released soon.
A Mint official also confirmed that gold versions of the penny - long a subject of collector rumor - are indeed real.
'Today the Mint celebrates 232 years of penny manufacturing,' said McNally, acting mint director as the presses came to a halt.
'While general production concludes today, the penny's legacy lives on. As its usage in commerce continues to evolve, its significance in America's story will endure.'
The dramatic wind-down began in February, when President Donald Trump announced the administration would halt the minting of new pennies.
'For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies,' Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
According to Treasury estimates, each penny now costs 3.69 cents to produce up from 1.42 cents just ten years ago. The Mint expects to save $56 million per year by discontinuing circulating pennies.
Treasury officials added that changing consumer habits, especially the shift toward card and mobile payments, made low-value coins 'financially untenable.'
The United States now joins Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland in eliminating its smallest-denomination coin.
The penny was costing more than four times its value to make and the Treasury lost $85 million minting the coins last year alone.
The phasing out of the penny may save the Treasury some immediate cash, but it raises the next currency problem, that of the nickel.
'If you get rid of the penny, it will increase the amount of nickels,' Rhett Jeppson, a former chief executive of the US Mint said.
'You lose more on a nickel than you do on a penny,' Jeppson told the New York Times.
Nickels, worth five cents, are also a loss-maker for the treasury, leaving an $18 million hole from their production last year.
The problem could be exacerbated by the end of the penny because demand for nickels is likely to shoot up in their place.
The US penny was first introduced in 1973, beginning as a large copper coin and eventually shrinking in size to its modern, smaller form.
Early designs featured a 'flowing hair' Liberty, which was quickly updated, and the coin itself has changed composition and appearance, notably featuring Abraham Lincoln since 1909.
Supporters of the penny have argued that it helps keep consumer prices lower and is a source of income to charities.
For many Americans, however, the coin has become a nuisance that ends up being discarded in drawers, jars and piggy banks.
The American Bankers Association said last month a slowdown in penny circulation this year had created localized supply issues, especially in areas where terminals used by banks to deposit excess coins have been shut down.
It said the banking industry was encouraging consumers to check their home, car and coin jars for pennies and bring them to banks, retailers or coin kiosks to help ease the slowdown.
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