Instantly More Collectible: No One Wants Pennies, Until They're Gone

Cowboynetdaily ^ | 4/6/25 | Zakary Sonntag

[CFW]

It can arbitrate disputes with a flip, add shine to DIY art projects and keep fingernails clean when scratching a lotto ticket. But when it comes to commerce, it’s become so useless that even life-long cent collectors have begun cutting losses.

“I've thrown pennies in the trash. Sometimes they’re in horrible condition. They’ve been out in the rain or buried in the dirt or corroded, or they're just damn ugly,” Dan Norris, owner of D&J Coins in Sheridan, told Cowboy State Daily. “I could take it to the bank and redeem it – but they’re pennies.”

Norris was expressing one side of the divided response to the president's February executive order to stop minting new pennies. The logic behind that move is simple: with a minting expense over three-and-half-times its face value, the cent is in the red.

Ironically, the order catalyzed a craze for the latest batch of cents. The penny, it appears, is like a dead-beat ex-boyfriend. You can’t wait to get rid of him, until it sets in that he’s actually gone.

“The resale price of a 2025 Lincoln cent has been averaging about 25 to 50 times its face value,” Takumi Veley, coin and currency expert for the popular online platform Resell Calendar, told Cowboy State Daily.

[snip]

Only time will tell if 2025 becomes a key date coin. But as speculators look to the future, Wyoming coin collectors say the moment has compelled them to look toward the past.

[snip].

“Most people don't look at the profit motive. They've got a desire to have ownership of something historical,” he said. “The fun part of it is just doing the research about where this came from and why it came into existence in the first place. Understanding why it's rare now and what replaced it.

[CFW]

We throw our change in a money jar or penny bank. When it is full, we put a grandchild's name on it, and put the bank up in a cupboard. Who knows if a collectible coin is in there somewhere. I'll probably designate a special jar for 2025 pennies I receive in change and save them separately.

Did you know prescription bottles make perfect coin holders for quarters? After my in-laws passed away without a few months of each other, we found hundreds of dollars in quarters that were saved in prescription bottles in various parts of their house.

[ComputerGuy]

And then there’s my uncirculated 1931-S. I bought it when I was eleven years old for $1.25.

[grumpygresh]

Indian head pennies are cool.

[eyeamok]

I have collected my change forever, I have about 40-50 pounds of pennies right now.

[LukeL]

Pretty good investment

[CFW]

“And then there’s my uncirculated 1931-S. I bought it when I was eleven years old for $1.25.”

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Is that the one worth 40 bucks or the one worth $3,000?

[EvilCapitalist]

I’ve got over $116.00 in pennies. Not a fortune, but a lot of pennies.

[ComputerGuy]

It’s worth a couple of hundred dollars, that’s all. My last offer was for $225.

[Brian Griffin]

A round-up tax is possible.

$20.23->$20.25

$13.34->$13.35

It would save cashiers time.

Stores would collect it as soon as they wanted.

[Brian Griffin]

Change makes holes in my pants pocket.

It is the reason why I have to replace pants.

I try to reduce it as much as I can.

[nopardons]

Used currency is usually NOT worth much later on, UNLESS it's VERY old, there's a mistake on it, it was made in a special mint that is no longer making coins.

But yes, IF this really IS the last year that pennies will be made, they MIGHT someday be of some value.

[cherry]

I save change too..its suppose to be a little extra to take to Vegas but I find it hard to get rid of the...plus I wonder if the non silver quarters before the cheap ones might be valuable some day....I bought $50 worth of pre 1982 pennies from my bil the banker many yrs ago..so there’s that.

[griswold3]

Need Pennie’s? Call me. We have coffee cans full of change.

[Chode]

i remember getting three pieces of candy for a penny...

my first taste of inflation was when it went to TWO pieces for a penny, i was pissed

[one guy in new jersey]

Retail totals, e.g. for food orders in NJ, are presented to the customer only after many-places-to-the-right-of-the-decimal-point sales tax rates are applied/added in.

The state taxing authority can be expected to not accept anything less than its full VIG, down to the penny, no “rounding” accommodation allowed due to supposed lack of pennies.

So...who bears the cost of “rounding” to facilitate paying in cash without the need pennies? The vendor/restaurant? The customer? Elon Musk? Maybe Alex Soros.

[Songcraft]

Interesting short video clip:  "This Guy Saved Pennies For 45 Years. Then He Cashed Them In – And Their Total Is Astounding"

[CFW]

It is amazing how quickly the change can add up. We’ve always kept a change jar handy to save it in. I also have a change jar in the laundry room. Recently, I found a coffee can pushed back in a corner on a laundry room shelf. It was full of pre-2000 change and a few dollar bills and totaled about $200. I applied a grandchild’s name and stuck it in the penny bank cupboard. The grandchildren will have hundreds of dollars in change they can cash in and use as they wish.

[sauropod]

Change Jar

[sjmjax]

I check the dates and keep the pre1982 coins. Still made of copper rather than copper plated, zinc tokens.

Still not worth much. ☹️

[Z28.310]

Each pre-82 has pure copper.
At melt value, is three cents each

Oddly, the same valuation problem happened during the fall of Rome. Rome cheapened the metallurgy of the coinage, as the value of the pure metals was greater than the face value.

Interesting times!