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To those who argue that the U.S. penny had no value: some coin collectors beg to differ.
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In fact, they doled out millions for the final pennies circulated in the U.S. before the government ended the cent’s production back in November.
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The U.S. Mint sold 232 three-cent sets for a whopping sum of $16.76 million at an auction last Thursday hosted by Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
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The 232nd set — containing the last three pennies ever made _ sold for $800,000. That bidder also got the three dies that struck those Lincoln cents.
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John Kraljevich, director of numismatic Americana at Stack’s Bowers, said it was the kind of auction where you don’t know the items’ market value until people make their bids.
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“I’ve been going to coin auctions for 40 years, and I can tell you, I’ve never seen anything like this, because there’s never been anything like this,” Kraljevich said.
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Stack’s Bowers President Brian Kendrella said: “They captured the public imagination like few rare coins we’ve ever handled.”
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When it was introduced in 1793, a penny could buy a biscuit or a piece of candy. Now most of them are tucked away into jars or junk drawers.
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They can also be relics of history for coin collectors.
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Each set comprised 2025 pennies struck at the Philadelphia Mint, the Denver Mint and a 24-karat gold penny to cap off the end of an era. Each cent also bore a unique Omega symbol.
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There were 232 grouplets to reflect each year the coin had been embedded in American culture.
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“American culture has incorporated the penny into our lexicon, into our pop culture, into all of this stuff,” Kraljevich said. “And I think for a lot of people, the ending of production of cents for circulation is an item of nostalgia.”
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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English (US)