Last pennies minted go for $800,000 at auction

Bidders doled out top dollar to get their hands on some of the final circulating pennies.

Why it matters: You definitely want one of these pennies for your thoughts.

State of play: One of the 232 three-coin penny sets sold for $800,000 — the highest hammer price during Thursday's auction, held by California-based Stack's Bowers Galleries.

Another set fetched $200,000. Zoom in: Each set included two circulating pennies — one each from the Mint's facilities in Philadelphia and Denver — and a 24-karat gold uncirculated penny minted in Philly.

The coins bear a unique omega symbol (Ω). The highest grossing sale, which was for the very last pennies struck (No. 232 of 232), included the original three pairs of stamps (or dies) used to strike the Omega pennies.

Catch up quick: The Philadelphia U.S. Mint struck the final circulating one-cent coins in November.

That came after President Trump directed the Treasury to stop producing new pennies earlier this year due to the high costs of making the coins. The U.S. Mint has made pennies for the last 232 years.

What did Szabo say about collectibles?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @xz 2h

Must have been a long time coming. I seem to remember Max Keiser talking about the melt value of copper pennies being higher than the face value some time at the beginning of the millenium.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Aeneas 18h

Everyone who has ever refused to pick up a penny from the sidewalk was making a mistake 😔

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @winteryeti 22h

"Hides his Ikea piggy bank full of pennies under the bed..."