A penny short: US mints final 1-cent coins after over 230 years in circulation
From here on out, a penny saved is more than just a penny earned; it's also a relic of history.
The final penny was minted on Wednesday at the Philadelphia Mint after over 230 years in circulation as a useful coin flip device, a vehicle to cast wishes into lucky ponds and the smallest form of U.S. currency.
"Today, we retire the penny," Derek Theurer, who is performing the duties of Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, said in statements delivered at the Philadelphia Mint, the same city where the first penny was created over two centuries prior.
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach also spoke at the event, highlighting the historic moment. Beach said the last time the United States discontinued a coin was the half cent in 1857.
"Given the rapid modernization of the American wallet, the Department of the Treasury and President Trump no longer believe the continued production of the penny is fiscally responsible or necessary to meet the demands of the American public," Beach said, laying out what he claimed were financial benefits to the country.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the cost of producing a single penny has more than doubled in the past 10 years, to 3.69 cents.
"Although today we say goodbye to our copper one-cent coin, let me be crystal clear, the penny remains legal tender," said Beach. "We have over 300 billion pennies that remain in circulation and we encourage you to use them."
Beach also shared that the final pennies minted will be auctioned off and will not go into circulation.
President Donald Trump earlier this year announced his intention to stop penny production in a Truth Social post.
"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents," wrote Trump in the February post. "This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time."
The U.S. Mint reported losing $85.3 million on making pennies in fiscal year 2024, according to the Mint's annual report to Congress.
To read more about the reasons in support and opposition to the end of the penny, read on here.
A brief history of the long and famed life of the penny
The country's first form of pennies, copper coins called Fugio cents, first appeared in 1787 and were made from "the bands used to hold together powder kegs that the French government sent to the United States during the American Revolution," according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, citing the "Journal of Congress."
The official one-cent piece was first produced in the United States in 1793 and was originally the size of the present-day quarter, according to Caroline Turco, assistant curator of the Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who spoke with ABC News earlier this year.
Turco said Lincoln, whose likeness is also on the $5 bill, was added to the coin in 1909.
The size and design of the penny has varied over the years, as well as the exact combination of materials used to create the currency, according to the U.S. Mint.
