Trump’s plan to scrap the penny spikes interest for coin collectors

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Trump’s plan to scrap the penny spikes interest for coin collectors

Can a penny saved finally be truly worth it? Collectors are asking that question this week after President Trump ordered the U.S. Treasury Department to stop minting the penny.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Mr. Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on Truth Social. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”

Every penny costs 3.7 cents to manufacture and the U.S. Treasury lost $85.3 million in 2024 producing them, the U.S. Mint reported. Congress sets currency specifications, so it’s unclear whether Mr. Trump has the power to eliminate the penny, but the president might be able to stop the Treasury from minting them. 

This is key, collectors say, to possibly driving up the price of 2025 pennies and rare pennies currently in circulation. 

“As an avid collector of coins, the coin collecting community is excited as the discontinuation of the penny is a historic event and it brings a renewed interest in rare and valuable editions,” avid coin collector Scott Evans told CBS News.

He pointed to the rise in interest in Canada’s penny after the country discontinued producing the coin in 2012 as a guide for collectors. The Royal ********* Mint removed at least 6 billion pennies in the first three years after stopping production, depositing them at financial institutions and trucking them from coast to coast to recover their valuable copper and zinc,

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in a report analyzing its penny removal.

Over 3.5 billion ********* pennies were returned in the first year alone, and fewer pennies meant more value for the ones left behind. Some valuable pennies include coins from the 1920s — as most pennies from this decade are hard to find,

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 — and from 1936, when only a few

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are known to exist, making them extremely rare.

This is what bullish collectors hope to see if production stops in the U.S. Evans referenced coins with errors on them or coins with significant dates that might see a big increase in value. Before 1982, pennies were made of 95% copper and 5% zinc, and those made of precious metals might see an increase. He pointed to pennies such as the 1943 Copper Penny or the 1982-D Small Date Copper Penny that might jump in price.

Rare coin and precious metal collector Jonathan Aminov told CBS News he doesn’t predict a huge jump in price for the penny.

“I get calls about pennies all day long,” said Aminov, who owns

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in Manhattan. 

He said the U.S. won’t see a foreseeable shortage of pennies anytime in the near future because there are too many coins in circulation. 

Aminov said collectors might see interest in the 2025 penny because that was the year the coin stopped being minted. If 500 million pennies were ordered for the year and 50 million were minted, then those coins are going to be more desirable, he said.

He also cautioned that it would be difficult to obtain big prices for pennies as the coin would have to be extremely rare saying, “Pennies are a bit of a longshot.”

However, the end of penny production can bring new interest and collectors into a hobby which Aminov says could be a good thing. And once someone is hooked on coin collecting it’s hard to get out, he says.

“It’s easy to fall in love with coins,” said Aminov. “And the people who love it really, really love it. They spend obscene amounts of money to purchase their coin and then stare at it for hours in love with its beauty and history.”

Cara Tabachnick

Cara Tabachnick is a news editor at CBSNews.com. Cara began her career on the crime beat at Newsday. She has written for Marie Claire, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. She reports on justice and human rights issues. Contact her at *****@*****.tld

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