Dec. 16 (UPI) — The final pennies minted in the United States were sold for more than $16.76 million in a special auction and set a record as the most valuable modern U.S. coin ever sold.
The auction held last week by Stack’s Bowers Galleries in California included 232 sets featuring three of the one-cent coins that President Donald Trump earlier ordered the Treasury Department to stop minting.
Each of the pennies was marked with the Greek letter Omega, signifying the end of the 238-year-old U.S. currency denomination, according to a press release from the auction house.
Among the set of pennies auctioned off was a 2025 penny produced at the Philadelphia Mint, a “2025-D” penny produced at the Denver Mint and a 24-karat gold penny also produced at the Philadelphia Mint, according to the press release.
The beginning of the sale was delayed due to “unprecedented levels of collector interest” and took place over the course of four hours.
“They captured the public imagination like few rare coins we’ve ever handled,” Stack’s Bowers Galleries President Brian Kendrella said in the press release.
The pennies’ overall sale value pencils out to more than $72,000 on average for each three-coin set, according to the auction house.
The last set went for $800,000, the highest among 17 sets that went for more than $100,000, setting a new record for the most valuable modern U.S coin. The prior record was a Space Flown 24 Karat Gold Sacagawea sold by Stack’s Bowers for $550,000 in 2025.
Trump issued the order to discontinue the penny in February, noting that producing the currency costs more than its value. He wrote in a social media post that it was time to reduce waste from the federal budget, “even if it’s a penny at a time.”
