Last Pennies Minted in the U.S. Sell for $16.7 Million at Auction

The final pennies ever produced for circulation in the United States have sold for a staggering sum, drawing intense interest from collectors and setting a modern-era record.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries, an auction company based in California, said in a press release that it generated $16.76 million through a special sale conducted on behalf of the United States Mint on Friday, Dec. 12.

At the center of the auction were 232 sets containing three coins each: a 2025 penny, a 24-karat gold penny struck at the Philadelphia Mint, and a 2025-D penny produced at the Denver Mint, according to the auction house.

What made these coins especially notable was a small Omega mark — the final letter of the Greek alphabet — included to symbolize what the release described as their role as the concluding chapter in a circulating coin legacy that began in 1793 with the Chain Cent.

The auction house said demand reached “unprecedented levels of collector interest,” contributing to a slight delay in the start of the sale and resulting in nearly four hours of competitive bidding.

On average, each three-coin set sold for about $72,000, with 17 lots exceeding $100,000. The first set brought $200,000, while the final offering — Set #232 — soared to $800,000, the highest price of the event.

That top lot included what was described as the last circulating penny intended for issuance from both Philadelphia and Denver, the final Omega-marked gold penny, and three sets of canceled dies used to strike the series.

Stack’s Bowers said the final lot now ranks as the most valuable modern U.S. currency set ever sold, surpassing the previous record held by a Space Flown 24-karat Gold Sacagawea dollars, which sold for $550,000 in September 2025.

“It’s an extraordinary honor to again be selected to partner with the United States Mint to offer exciting numismatic rarities to the collecting public,” Stack’s Bowers Galleries President Brian Kendrella said in a press release.

“They captured the public imagination like few rare coins we’ve ever handled. Even our staff of expert numismatists, who see the world’s most famous and valuable rare coins day in and day out, were excited by the chance to handle the very last pennies struck before the suspension of circulating production,” he added.

The auction took place one month after the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia completed its final penny production run. President Donald Trump ordered the coin discontinued after costs rose beyond its face value.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” Trump wrote in a post in February, according to NBC News. “This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”

The penny is the first U.S. coin to be discontinued since the half-cent was ended in 1857, according to the AP.