When will "The Last U.S. Penny" hype die out?

P.S. It's a CENT... not a penny... but I digress...

(And the P.S. was for "pre-script" in this case ;-) )

When they announced they were stopping production of U.S. Cents, I was both happy and sad.

Then I waited too long, and now 2025-S proof cents are going for, shall we say "ridiculous" prices on eBay.

It *should* die out eventually... right? I mean... after Christmas... maybe a few months after...?

At this point, I'd pay $25-$50, but no way am I paying $200...

 

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Next year when they're still included in sets, and maybe even minted to sell in rolls at a premium like dollars are.

 

Without looking it up, how many people know what year* half dollars stopped being minted for circulation?

Now, how many care?

* yes, it's a bit of a trick question. They've stopped more than once.

 

I loved fifty cent pieces when I was a kid. Most folks would throw them at you on collection day on the paper route (30 cents per week). Nearly accomplished a full set of Franklins. Admitably, I did have to engage a dealer or two to complete the set....still got it!

 

Wasn't that 2006?

 

I am not worrying about the cent nor the games that the mint is playing. Except for Kroger, I am getting cents on nearly every other transaction. I get that nickel more often than usual also.

 

Not soon enough to suit me.

 

From memory, none were struck for circulation in 1970 (and prices for mint sets from that year spiked heavily in the early 1970s). They resumed in 1971.

None were struck with the date 1975, but 1776-1976 Bicentennial halves were struck in 1975 and 1976.

No halves were struck for circulation in 1987.

I had to look up the more recent figures, because I wasn't paying enough attention to remember. Looks like they were struck only for collectors from 2002 until 2019, and the Fed started shipping them for circulation again in 2020, although it took a year or two for the mintages to come back up. I'm not sure why the Fed started issuing them again; I've certainly never gotten one in change without explicitly requesting it, except of course at coin shows. Nobody wants to use them. And as far as I know, there wasn't ever a single bit of a premium for 1986 halves, or 2001 halves, or... you get the picture.

 

Cent, penny, copper, zinc, Bah-Hum-Bug!

 

A good example is the 1975-S proof cent. The San Francisco mint suspended cent production in 1974, and only minted proofs afterwards. There was a high demand for the 1975-S cent afterwards until the early 1980s. I was a kid on a budget and couldn't/wouldn't afford the $10 or so for the 1975-S. Now you can get them for a couple of bucks as the hype for them died down.

I've even seen people sifting through those "give a penny take a penny" cups at stores looking for "valuable" 2025 cents!

I'd sure like to see the mint do the 2026 forward proof cents in the original 95% bronze alloy with the original higher relief.

 

I still remember as a young kid buying dates at a fruit stand with a dollar bill and getting a 1976 bicentennial half in change in 1975 - looking at it made me do a double take - getting a 1976 dated coin a few months before 1976. Halves actually did circulate a bit back then but not for long.

 

Well, you and I will still be kicking, Doug. I'm too ornery not to be.

Bruce

 

After they start the NIFC shenanigans, W-mint marks, reverse proofs, privy marks, real bronze planchet in 4 different strikes, etc, the average collectors will say "screw it, we're out".

 

I don't even take any of this stuff seriously anymore. I've this type of stuff happen so many times over the years that I've lost interest...never really had much anyway. Hype is what it is...a four-letter word.

Bruce

 

Never cared about it for one second.

 

I think that it sucks. Although most aren't getting rich on a pocket change find. Sime of us have been coming thru the good errors and Varieties for years. Now we are gonna have to start paying up. I thought we could have made it for many years more. I had hoped that our dollar one day would return to make them relevant.

 

It's gonna have a looonnnggg run based on the number of phony "Omega Cents" posted for sale on *bay and elsewhere. This crap is gonna be stuck on our collective numismatic community shoes for many years to come.

 

As a collector of 65+ years, I can’t recall of the modern U.S. coins which have been expensive soon after they were issued. Years later the prices were far lower. Back in the 1960s, the 1960 small date cent in Proof retailed for $50. Today a run of the mill example sells for less than $10.

The 1973-S clad silver Proof Eisenhower Dollar once sold for as much as $250. Today it sells for less than $20.

Why does this happen? The coins have high mintages, often 10s of thousands, or over 1 million. The promotion starts soon after it’s issued. Years later, the promotion is long over; lots of them have survived and demand has disappeared.

 

Well, we are getting a 2026 cent or "penny" as the Mint calls it . . .