Wow, seriously

My father wasn't sure if my mother got this year's proof set yet as she typically does every year for Christmas as a "stocking stuffer" gift. So I checked on eBay... cheapest one is $225. That's for the clad proof set, not the silver one. Any one cheaper has had the penny removed.

There were billions of pennies minted this year, and this year isn't the last year pennies will be in uncirculated and proof sets. But everyone is convinced that 2025 pennies are, or will be, valuable. And in the short term at least, perception is reality.

I'm really hoping she already bought it lol. She usually does, right when it first becomes available, typically February or March. But my dad is not sure if she already has or not, and if she has, where she put it.

Guess we'll find out. Told my dad he should look for it thoroughly, because for now at least, it's quite valuable, and it would be really expensive to get one from the secondary market right now, if you can even find one. And the Mint's completely sold out of it, and won't be making any more 2025 sets at this point.

P.S. For sake of reference, they minted about 319,000 of the 2024 clad proof set; not been able to find numbers for 2025.

 

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That's a lot of coin to put out for a stocking stuffer, but I'd guess that your mom has one tucked away for him. Traditions are hard to break especially for something so obviously important to a loved one. Tell him to rest easy...moms got him covered.

Bruce

 

Sure glad I don’t need it for my collection.

 

Kind of a tradition at this point, which is why I don't buy the clad proof set for myself. At issue price it was like $35 not counting the shipping, so it's not that extravagant really. It's just that the penny hype is causing it to spike in the secondary market.

 

My 2025 unc. P + D set was $33.25 190,000 issued. The 2025 "S'' proof set was $40.25 420,002 issued and the Silver proof set was $150.00 both 10 coin sets.
The 2025 limited silver$255 issued 25,008.

 

2025 proof sets - 304,719
2025 silver proof sets - 114,279

 

So basically that's 418,000 proof pennies. That... does not feel rare, and they're not the last proof pennies, since they're still minting more next year.

What bugs me is all logic says they shouldn't be worth that much but there's enough people who believe otherwise that the market, at least temporarily, agrees.

Really really hope my mom got that set when it came out... it would bug me to not have it, but I don't want to pay a ridiculous price to get it.

I currently have every US proof set from 1958 to 2024. It would bug me to no end to miss a year. If I wasn't borderline OCD I wouldn't be in this hobby lol.

 

ALL coins were modern at some point.

 

It would be a really safe bet to either sell the 2025 set(s) you do have into this spike, or pass on it entirely, and buy in a couple of years on the secondary market. That was certainly the winning strategy for 1970 mint and proof sets and 1999 silver quarters, at least.

 

I waited years and still didn't like paying the price that I did. Those UC sets always had something fun to find.

 

In a couple of years they will down to or near issue price.

 

That's very true. Also very irrelevant to any one of us alive today.

 

When the bi-cen penny comes out in 2026 is that like a 3 legged buffalo??

 

Quite likely, though 2012 proof sets are still quite high, even if they're below what their peak was. Glad I got that one at issue price.

 

Well people can always collect what they like, and not collect what they don't like.

It's more a general comment on turning up one's nose at "new" things when all things start out new. I only care that it's something I want at a price I'm willing and able to pay, regardless of whether it was made 100 years ago or yesterday.

What will stand the test of time and people will care about in the future, who can say. But I reserve my judgment of anything until I've seen it; I'm never going to say that nothing new can ever be worthwhile. Such an attitude leads to stagnation.

My collecting habits are all over the place I'll admit lol. It's definitely not focused on a particular time period. I don't even buy much from the modern US Mint these days but if they make something I want, at a price I'm willing and able to pay, I'll get it.

 

Who knows. All they've said is it will be in uncirculated and proof sets, and they're not minting any for general circulation. Whether they'll sell them in bags and rolls separately from those sets, they've kind of hinted they might but they've not explicitly said they intend on it. Their announcement of the Semiquincentennial stuff put them in the same category as the half dollars, which they usually sell in rolls and bags, and separate from the nickel, which will be made for circulation, which suggests it as a possibility, but they've not explicitly said that's their intention.

So how many will actually be made? Who knows. Definitely a lot less than 2025 pennies. Whether or not that means people will be obsessed with them and the value of them will spike, well... in the short term they probably will, based on what's going on with 2025 pennies, but I'm not sure how sustainable that will be in the long term.

At any rate I expect 2026 annual sets will sell well just based on the novelty of single-year designs anyway. The penny is just a nice bonus.

No mention of whether or not pennies will still be in uncirculated and proof sets in 2027 and beyond... the bill that gets rid of the penny says they still can be made "for numismatic purposes" but the Mint hasn't specified their intention for the penny past 2026. So who knows what the true last year for the penny will be. All that can be known for sure is it will made for at least one more year.

 

If I were a betting man (I'm not), I would bet the mint will milk this penny mania for as long as they can, several years at least, with a few contrived rarities thrown in that make the set impossible to complete for the average collector.

 

I mean, probably. Have already decided those omega ones don't count in the Lincoln cent series.

 

Reverse proof! Enhanced finish! Special mint mark! Special privy mark! Commemorative fingerprint!