Is the Last Penny Really Worth $5 Million?

Treasurer of the United States Brandon Beach holds the last penny stamped at the US Mint on November 12, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beach pressed the final pennies at an event held at the facility. The pennies pressed bear a special ‘Omega’ and will not be put in circulation, but will be auctioned off. (Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)

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Is the Last Penny Really Worth $5 Million at Auction?

News quickly spread worldwide yesterday that the United States Mint in Philadelphia, the first mint in the country, was producing the last pennies ever on Wednesday, after Donald Trump ordered them to be discontinued. News cameras came. Treasurer of the United States Brandon Beach showed up to give the lowly, unwanted penny a proper sendoff. So what happens to the last penny ever minted in the country, the one that Beach held up for the cameras?

It turns out that the five final pennies made in Philadelphia were minted with a special omega mark on them. They’ll remain uncirculated and go up for auction by the government at some unspecified time in the future. Details on that to come. Meanwhile, it begs the question: What will those pennies be worth?

Some estimates out there put the auction value of each of the five pennies at anywhere from $2 million to $5 million, with the very last of the last pennies possibly hitting that $5 million mark. (And there’s also the possibility that some obsessed collectors would be willing to pay even more if they could obtain all five, because why would you want just one when you could hoard them all like a good capitalist?)

Philadelphia-area numismatist Richard Weaver, however, has his doubts. Weaver, owner of Broomall’s Delaware Valley Rare Coin Company and the first guy in modern times to come across a 1943 Antimony Lincoln Cent and the only 1786 New Jersey three-pound Colonial note known to exist, opines that some of the estimates out there are likely to be overblown. And Beach himself, Weaver notes, may have devalued the last penny.

“If you look at that photo, he is holding the penny with his fingers on the coin,” Weaver told me, his voice tinged with incredulity. “You just don’t do that. Copper is very reactive to sweat and the oils of the skin, and any serious collector is going to take this photo into consideration.”

On top of that, Weaver adds, he doesn’t consider the last five pennies to be a true collector’s dream. Yes, there are only five of them in existence, which might suggest rarity to us laypeople, but Weaver’s not fully buying it.

“You see, they were made for this purpose,” he explains. “They were made to be rare. When you see people paying in the millions for coins, they are paying for coins that are 100 or 200 years old, of which only a handful are known to exist and that have survived for so many years without anyone making them for that purpose in 1933 or 1794.”

Then again, he admits, it’s not easy to know what is going to happen at an auction, particularly with a coin has produced such big headlines.

“One thing that is hard to predict with something like this is ego,” Weaver says with a chuckle. “And there are a lot of egos out there these days.”

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By the Numbers

$193 million: Funding increase that Philly schools are set to receive thanks to the just-passed Pennsylvania budget. The total state budget came in at $50.1 billion, and Governor Shapiro approved it on Wednesday after months of legislative wrangling and delays.

35 percent: Portion of city contracts that were supposed to go to “minority, women, or disabled-owned enterprises” after the city developed new guidelines in 2016. But Mayor Parker has quietly done away with this practice.

$120: What it will cost you and up to three of your friends to enjoy a pop-up barrel sauna in FDR Park, starting on December 13th. Reservations just opened!

Local Talent

If you’re a fan of Law & Order: SVU, you’ve probably noticed some new characters in the last few years. One of those characters is Captain Renee Curry, and she’s more prominent than ever in this season.

Mariska Hargitay and Aimé Donna Kelly during a Law & Order: SVU shoot in New York in September. (Getty Images)

It so happens that Curry is played by UArts grad and former Center City resident Aimé Donna Kelly. I sat down with Kelly recently to learn what it’s like to work with Mariska and Ice-T and also got to hear about the awkward moment when she bumped into Barack Obama at Famous 4th. You can read the full interview here.