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A penny saved could be $800,000 earned.
After pennies were discontinued in November, the last 1-cent coins minted suddenly became worth a fortune. A haul of these special pennies reportedly went for an eye-popping $16.76 million at a special auction in California held on behalf of the US Mint.
The sale marked the “highest value auction of special coins sold on behalf” of the currency-churning institution, per a press release by the auction company Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
Included were several sets of 232 three-coin sets, each of which featured a 2025-D penny struck at the Denver Mint, and a 2025 penny and a historic 2025 penny struck in 24-karat gold, both from the Philadelphia Mint.
Each of the iconic coins bears the mark of the final Greek letter Omega, denoting “their role as the capstone to a two-centuries-long legacy that first began in 1793 with the Chain Cent,” per the release.
During the auction, which entailed “four hours of competitive bidding” amid unprecedented interest, each set average of $72,000 while 17 lots sold for more than $100,000 each, with the final one — Set #232 — fetching a whopping $800,000.
In other words, they stopped being minted so people could be.
How to make “change” your life with a penny?
In accordance, people who want to make dollars on the penny should inspect their change jar carefully before emptying it.
In particular, there are three tests people can use if their penny is worth more than a cent — er, rather, not anything anymore.
- The 2025 “Omega” Scan: To tell if your penny is of the “Omega” class of 2025, examine one of the ones from that year and check behind Lincoln’s shoulder for a tiny “Ω” symbol.
- The “S” Hunt: Look for any penny with an “S,” denoting that it was created at the San Francisco mint. While not all are rare, they are much more likely to be valuable “key dates,” such as the 1931. In 2021, one of these vintage pieces sold for $18,600.
- The Magnet Test: Grab a refrigerator magnet and place a 1943 penny on it. If the sheckle sticks, it’s common steel (worth 10¢); If not, it’s copper and could potentially be worth up to $100,000. Conversely, if a 1944 penny adheres, it’s a rare steel error that could be worth several times that — in 2021 one of these 1944 steel wheat pennies went under the hammer for a record $408,000.
The auction occurred exactly one month after the US Mint in Philadelphia called a moratorium on penny-making in line with President Donald Trump’s order to discontinue the denomination.
He cited the fact that it became twice as expensive to produce as it was worth.
“For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” the 47th president declared. “This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
