Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent minted the last five cents on Wednesday — each bearing a rare omega mark — ending production of U.S. cents and creating collectibles that could fetch millions at auction.
The cent, first adopted under the Coinage Act of 1792, was recently discontinued due to rising production costs over the past decade. The small coin now costs almost four cents to make, but is worth only one cent.
While experts estimate the auction value of the latest copper-colored tokens to be between $2 million and $5 million USA todayOther coin collectors said the estimates appear unrealistic.
United States Treasurer Brandon Beach holds the last cent stamped by the United States Mint on November 12, 2025 in Philadelphia. Beach printed the last pennies during an event at the location. The pressed pennies have a special “Omega” and are not put in (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images/Getty Images)
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Numismatist Richard Weaver, owner of Broomall’s Delaware Valley Rare Coin Company, of Philadelphia, told the story phillymag.com When U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach posed for a photo with one of the last pennies in his hand, he may have damaged it.
“If you look at that photo, he’s holding the penny on the coin with his fingers,” Weaver told the newspaper. “You just don’t do that. Copper is very reactive to sweat and the oils of the skin, and any serious collector will consider this photo.”
Weaver hypothesized that since the pennies were made for a ceremonial purpose and will never enter circulation, their value might decrease.
“You see, they were made for this purpose,” Weaver said. “They are made to be rare. When you see people paying for coins in the millions, they are paying for coins that are 100 or 200 years old, of which only a handful are known to exist and which have survived that many years without anyone having made them for that purpose in 1933 or 1794.”
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and a mint worker, Mathew Primavera, place the last cent to be minted into the machine at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia on Wednesday, November 12, 2025. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images/Getty Images)
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U.S. Treasury Department officials said the rare handful of coins will be auctioned by the government at a later date, although this has not yet been announced.
President Donald Trump announced plans in February to halt production of the one-cent coins.
“For far too long, the United States has minted pennies that have literally cost us more than 2 cents,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “This is so wasteful! I have ordered my Secretary of the Treasury to stop producing new pennies.”
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach holds the last cent stamped at the U.S. Mint on Nov. 12, 2025, in Philadelphia. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images/Getty Images)
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In fiscal year 2024, the cent accounted for 57% of the Mint’s total circulating coin production of 5.61 billion coins.
Based on the most recent estimates, the U.S. Mint expects to save about $56 million a year in production costs by replacing the coin, according to its website.
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The penny can still be used for transactions, and the pennies in circulation will be processed until the end of their 30-year life.
The Mint said it will also continue to produce collector’s versions of the cent in limited quantities.
