Who Makes The Penny, Which Is About To Disappear Forever?

The penny’s run is coming to an end. First minted in 1792, it has been in circulation constantly. It wll be sunseted next year. Afterward, things that cost a penny must “round up” or “round down” to a nickel.

There are good reasons to kill the penny. It costs 4 cents to mint. The U.S. Mint, part of the Treasury Department, reports that the end of the penny will save over $50 million a year. The end of production means the mint can cut its coin production by about three billion units, down from about nine billion a decade ago.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the penny will disappear because Americans throw $68 million worth of pennies away each year. The Federal Reserve claims $14 billion worth of pennies sits in “jars.” It is not clear how that figure has been determined.

The current penny features Abraham Lincoln on its “head” side. It was placed there in 1909, on his 100th birthday. Victor David Brenner, a Lithuanian sculptor and engraver who came to the U.S. in 1890, created his likeness. He used a photo portrait of Lincoln for the design.

The other side (“tails”) has the “Union Seal,” first added in 2010. The Mint says, “ The shield on the reverse represents Lincoln’s preservation of the United States as a single country.”

All today’s pennies are minted at San Francisco, Denver, or Philadelphia facilities. A tiny letter on the “heads” side signifies where the penny was minted. D is for Denver. S is for San Francisco. There is no mark for Philadelphia—the date the penny was minted is on the same area of the “heads” side.

Some old pennies are worth thousands of dollars. The most valuable are those made that have the fewest in circulation today. Many of these show wheat on the penny’s tail side. Others have an Indian on the head’s side, which was there before Lincoln. Others are made of steel which was used briefly. According to Spruce Crafts, the most valuable penny is worth $1.7 million. “Accidents can produce the rarest coins. When the U.S. switched from bronze alloy to zinc-plated steel pennies in 1943, a relative handful of bronze pennies slipped through into the process.” Only 20 of these were made.

The penny will be gone soon, creating a new era of collector’s coins.