Penny collectors out of luck: One cent coin unlikely to go up in value after U.S. Mint stops production

RAYMORE, Mo. (KCTV) - Friday is National Lucky Penny Day, but the future for the penny is not looking so lucky.

The U.S. Treasury confirmed Thursday it ordered its last round of pennies; after that runs out, they will no longer be in production, but they can still be used for purchases. This comes after the Trump istration announced in February it would halt the production of the one-cent coins, a move that’s estimated to save the government $56 million.

With 114 billion pennies in production, the coin is far from rare. Pennies are the most commonly collected coin, said Rick Raines of Raines Rare Coins LLC. But Raines has not seen an increase in demand for pennies since the announcement that production will stop.

“There’s still way too many pennies for the collectors’ base to collect,” Raines said.

But one penny has been hard to come by: the 2025 penny.

“Everybody found out that the production is stopped, so everybody ran into the banks and started buying them,” Raines said. “So, we’ve got collectors looking for those and I don’t even have any at the shop right now.”

But older pennies are worth their weight in copper. Pennies made before 1982 are worth about 3 cents a piece. Although you can sell them to a coin shop, you can’t melt them down. Since pennies are still legal tender, it’s a felony to melt them for profit.

“If they do away with the penny, or the cent, I don’t know if they’ll approve it to be melted, they probably will,” Raines said.

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