It seems it is official. The Penny is over.
On May 22, 2025 the Wall Street Journal reported that the US Mint would stop making the coins in 2026.
Why?
They’re losing money by putting them out.
A cent, commonly known as a penny, costs 4c to make.
The way of official annoucements in 2025, is a Trump social media post, this one ended 238 years of pennies.
The countless millions of them still in existence today will still be legal tender.
But, in time, they will vanish.
Already there is coverage of the effect on prices as businesses have to adapt to rounding prices up or down to multiples of the 5 cent coin that will become the smallest US denomination.
Collecting pennies
The vast majority of US 1c coins are worth their face value - if they’re still legal tender.
To be worth collecting pennies have to be odd.
That usually means errors or withdrawals or extremely early issues.
Though this withdrawal will immediately create a sort of buzz around the final year of issue.
Benjamin Franklin, a true polymath, Founding Father, and possible designer of the first US cent.
Though, because the coins will still be issued in huge numbers, and a larger number of people than usual will be inspired to keep hold of one as a keepsake of this momentous occasion.
Here’s a quick look through the history of the penny.
A timeline of the US 1cent coin
Ye Olde Mint in Philadelphia photographed in 1908 was the source of many of these early coins, but not the first.
1787
Probably in praise of commerce rather than a threat, "mind your business" was soon replaced with Latin national mottos.
A precursor to the cent is issued in the form of the Fugio cent, that has recently been reclassified by numismatic experts as a “regular-issue” US coin. Fugio, the Latin word for flying, referred to time flying by. “Mind your business” the coin warns.
Almost all of the earliest US coins are rare and collectible, and the Fugio cent (possibly designed by Benjamin Franklin) is no exception. All are worth thousands of dollars and the best examples of particular rarities are assessed at heading towards $100,000.
A chain of 13 links shows a new union of colonies determined to forge a united state.
1793
The first cents in the series that ended today are minted (called “business strikes” and struck in the Government’s own mint). Getting a handle on its powers as an issuer of money was one of the first jobs of the new US Government, and while Congress debated how to go about it a rather wide variety of international coinage (much of it Spanish) remained in circulation and common use in the 13 rebel colonies.
Does she look shocked to you? The flowing-hair Liberty head was the start of a long, difficult journey to find an image of the embodiment of freedom that people liked.
During 1793 only, a cent called the Long Hair (or Flowing Hair) Chain Cent was struck. The Long Hair is the style on the head of Liberty. The “chain” is on the other side, and shows a 15-link chain symbolising the now 15 states of the US. (The Fugio cent had a 13-link chain, but Vermont and Kentucky had joined the union by 1793.)
The 26mm to 27mm-diameter coins were struck in copper at the Philadelphia mint and weighed 13.48 grammes.
Over 36,000 were struck, with some variants (there are three major families of them, including an abbreviated AMERI on one edge inscription). The public didn’t particularly like the design and it was quickly replaced.
This short issue and landmark status make it a collecting favourite, with only around 1,000 survivors today, any of which in any condition will be worth several thousand dollars.
The chain reverse. Soon to be broken.
1793
If the early American issues were somewhat disordered while the nation set up its first institutions, they could also be flexible.
Reacting quickly to public dislike of the “in-fright” Liberty head, a second design was quickly put together. It is now known as the Flowing Hair Wreath cent.
While the Liberty head survives, its design is somewhat more sophisticated and the chain is replaced with a wreath design, framing the one cent designation.
Chain out, wreath in.
Over 63,000 were struck and there are a large number of variants - 13 for grading under the Sheldon System. One introduced the “ONE HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR” message around the edge.
All variants are desirable and potentially valuable. In 2004, a Strawberry Leaf variant, of which there are four-known survivors, realised $414,000 at auction.
The US's first coiner, Henry Voight, is usually credited with this design.
1793 to 1796
Liberty Cap large cent
Liberty now has a Phrygian cap, an ancient hat (probably originally from what is now Iran) adopted by French revolutionaries as a national and liberatory symbol.
The design came from Joseph Wright (who painted some of the most famous portraits of the Founding Fathers), and was better liked than its predecessors, at least to the extent that it lasted several years. Some current experts consider it the most beautiful American coin of all.
Both sides and the edge of a Liberty Cap cent, with no writing around the edge.
There are variants aplenty, largely down to inconsistency in dies and collectors have so far identified 100 different types of coin. Later issues lost the edge lettering as the coins became too thin to carry type on their sides.
A small mintage by modern standards and a huge number of varieties mean Liberty Cap cents are all desirable and in good condition can be exceptionally valuable. A 1796 Liberty Cap cent was auctioned for $705,000 in 2017.
1796 - 1807
Draped Bust cents
Joseph Wright was slated to take up the job as the US Mint’s first official engraver, but sadly he died (aged just 37) before Congress could confirm George Washington’s choice.
Into his place came Robert Scot, born in Edinburgh in 1745, who engraved the Draped Hair Bust.
Here she is, but would this Liberty be any more popular? Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
This was an attempt to make a Liberty head that the people of America actually liked.
Scot had long experience working on currency and was a popular engraver of patriotic pictures and iconography. He may well have been involved in making the Great Seal of the United States.
His Draped Hair bust was almost certainly based on a portrait by Gilbert Stuart and possibly of Philadelphia socialite Ann Willing Bingham.
A portrait of Ann Willing Bingham, who may have been the model for this Liberty.
Through the coin’s span, three reverses were used (dated 1794, and 1795 twice with the second used until 1807).
There are many variants. The Mint was still working with materials and equipment that made standardisation difficult. In 1801, a single coin managed to include three errors.
Quite a lot of this coin were issued, but they are still sought after and can be valuable, especially in mint condition and in some variants.
Many can be found for hundreds of dollars, but a 1796 example, described as the best of its date and type ever sold for $329,000 in 2017.
1808 - 1814
Classic head cents.
Another new liberty head and another new designer.
The “Classic Head” was introduced on copper coinage by John Reich.
The Classic Head, but will the American public like it?
The head was later extensively redesigned and also used on silver and gold coins by William Kneass who replaced Robert Scot as US Mint Chief Engraver in 1823.
It survived in Reich’s version on half cents until 1836, but was replaced on the cent in 1816.
The design circled Liberty with 13 stars and gave her a thin hair band (called a fillet).
You can find examples for under $100 and most aren’t considered rare.
Collecting experts believe the coins may have been struck generally on poor quality blanks and so survivors in good condition are sought after and uncirculated coins are rare. There are a small number of error variants.
A fire at the mint in 1815 and copper shortages meant no cents were struck, a unique blank year in US coin production.
1816 - 1839 (1857)
An 1855 example of the Coronet/Braided Hair design. It was longer lasting, but was extensively altered during its lifetime.
The coronet design is sometimes divided into Matron Head and Braided Hair and Mature Head designs that were introduced from 1839.
The original is the work of Robert Scot. The updates that created the Braidded Hair design were made by Christian Gobrecht and further changes to create the Mature Head were made in 1843.
Now Liberty wears a coronet with “Liberty” engraved on it.
Again, the design was in reaction to public hostility to the previous design, and again, the replacement proved unpopular too.
The winds of change were blowing around this design in more ways than one.
Copper was getting more expensive and experiments in cheaper materials and techniques (including punching out holes) were made in the late period of the Coronet Head.
Very good condition examples from low-production years may be worth thousands of dollars.
With the Coronet Head, the large cent ends, and in
1856
The Flying Eagle cent is the first small cent produced with a nickel and copper alloy. It was produced as a pattern coin in 1856 and approved for full production from 1857.
Chief Engraver James B. Longacre used a design by Christian Gobrecht of an eagle in flight as the basis for his new coin. Gobrecht had derived the image from a work by the scientific artist Titian Peale (though another story sources it to a real eagle called Peter, who lived at the Mint).
If this is Peter the Eagle from the mint, he was finally crushed to death in the building's machinery.
In order to remove the last Spanish colonial coins from circulation, this cent could be exchanged for them. So it was issued in huge numbers, though they were not legal tender (only gold and silver coins were), so could be refused in transactions.
The design is still popular today, and there was strong demand for the coin when it was issued.
Unfortunately though, despite an extensive testing process and lobbying in favour of the design, the new cents didn’t strike well.
Several design changes were attempted, before the Civil War interrupted regular coin issues.
Some variants can be worth several thousand dollars in good condition but the most valuable are the coins that were struck in 1856 before the coin became a circulating issue. The most valuable of these was sold for $172,500 in 2004.
1859 to 1909
Indian Head cent
We are now definitely in the modern era of mass production and cents are being produced in huge numbers.
Only special rarities and errors will have much value for collectors.
Attempts to change the Flying Eagle design to one that would work in production didn’t come up with a successful (slimmer) eagle.
Complete with historical and cultural anomalies, the Indian Head cent was produced to strike well, and lasted for a long time.
And so, the Indian Head was suggested by James Longacre and put through a number of test strikings with different combinations of alternative designs.
The Indian Head stands in for Liberty, leading to a woman (probably a white woman) wearing a headdress that would have been worn by a man in Native American culture.
The coins were struck, with a slightly altered design, from 1859, with a new reverse design (with oak wreath and shield) adopted in 1860.
Economic and social crises around the Civil War led to redesign and reform, with cents recognised (in limited quantities) as legal tender from 1864 and bronze coins issued from May 1864.
In 1907 well over 100 million Indian Head cents were issued. Issue numbers are known and only short years have much value. The most valuable ever Indian Head cent was an 1864 proof coin that made $161,000 in 2012.
1909 to 2025
Lincoln cents
Arguably the most consequential president and certainly the one that America chooses as its national icon, Abraham Lincoln was the first historical figure on US coinage.
You may well have handled and spent many Lincoln cents yourself.
By most accounts, America’s greatest president, and one of the nation’s great martyrs, President Abraham Lincoln has been on the obverse of all cents since 1909.
These coins should have been designed by the great designer Augustus Saint-Gaudens, but he passed away during the process of redesigning much of the country’s coinage.
So, Victor David Brenner was engaged, largely at the insistence of President Teddy Roosevelt, to produce a portrait of Lincoln, another Presidential choice.
Whether or not the artist’s initials should be included in the finished coin proved somewhat controversial and resulted in the first redesign. Brenner had signed his design in full. This was cut down to initials during the approval process, but that was still too much for some people, and they were taken off in response to criticism in 1909, the first year of circulation. The initials came back, less prominently, from 1918.
A 1909 Lincoln cent, no room for the artist's signature on this example.
The first reverse design was Brenner’s own illustration of a pair of durum wheat ears.
The Lincoln cent remained popular enough that no redesign was considered, and, when in 1958 a new look was announced it was only the reverse that was to be changed.
The initial coin had come out on Lincoln’s 100th anniversary and on his 150th, a design of the Lincoln Memorial was used. The engraver who made the image, Frank Gasparro, reportedly had never seen the actual memorial. He signed the design with his initials.
The wheat reverse design is of its time, but survives well.
For the Lincoln Bicentennial in 2009, four new reverse designs describing Lincoln’s life story were introduced. They showed his early childhood (by Richard Alan Masters, sculpted by Jim Licaretz); his formative years (by Charles Vickers); his life as a lawyer (by Joel Iskowitz, sculpted by Don Everhart); and the presidency (by Susan Gamble, sculpted by Joseph Menna).
Since 2010 the reverse has shown a shield and scroll by artist Lyndall Bass, sculpted by Joseph Menna.
It’s likely that a special edition for the United States’ 250th birthday in 2026 will be produced before the cent is confined to the money box of history.
Lincoln cents are produced in enormous numbers and the Brenner design may be the most reproduced image in history.
Can you spot the Brenner initials on this recent Lincoln penny in proof condition and mint-marked for San Francisco.
Rarities and errors may be valuable, and the coin was the first cent to be produced in special proof sets for collectors, some of which are extremely rare (usually errors).
There are some dates 1931, 33, 39 and 55 for example of low mintage numbers. And some double-die strikes are well-known and collectible errors worth big cash.
The Second World War switch to steel has produced the two most valuable Lincoln Pennies, a 1943-D (for the Denver mint) accidentally struck in bronze that has a theoretical value of $2.3 million and a 1944 San Francisco strike that was mistakenly struck in steel, that is valued at $1.1 million.
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