Death of the Penny?

As more talk of abolishing the coin swirls, here's a look at its rich history

Daniel Bortz,

Updated May 22, 2025

AARP

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Published February 11, 2025

/ Updated May 22, 2025

Photo Collage: AARP; (Source: Getty Images (2))

The end appears to be near for the U.S. penny.

The Treasury Department has ordered its final round of penny blanks — flat metal discs that will be turned into coins — and confirmed that it will not put any more pennies into circulation after those are made, the Associated Press reported May 22.

In February, the White House ordered the Treasury to stop minting the one-cent coin, citing its high production costs. According to the U.S. Mint, the cost of producing and distributing a penny is more than triple the coin’s face value.

The penny’s fate may not be sealed, since the Constitution grants Congress the authority to regulate the nation’s currency. But if regulators do decide to pinch the coin out of circulation, it would mark the end of an era — and a farewell to “take-a-penny, leave-a-penny” trays at convenience stores.

In honor of the storied coin, let’s take a look at its rich history.

The penny’s big debut

The penny’s history dates back over 1,200 years ago. The first pennies were made in 790 A.D., when its variations across Europe — which included the German “pfennig” and the Swedish “penning” — originally denoted any sort of coin or money.

The first U.S. penny, however, wasn’t issued until 1793 by the U.S. Mint. It featured the head of an allegorical woman with flowing hair to symbolize liberty on one side of the coin and 15 chain links to symbolize the unity of the states on the other side. The coins were made of pure copper and were five times heavier than today’s penny, which tips the scales at a mere 2.5 grams.

Changing designs

The penny’s design has changed a handful of times over the course of its history.

The first U.S. pennies, with flowing hair, were engraved by hand, a laborious and time-consuming process. Since then the coin has had a number of design iterations:

Liberty Cap (1793 – 1796)
Draped Bust (1796 – 1807)
Classic Head (1808 – 1814)
Coronet Head (1816 – 1839)
Braided Hair (1839 – 1857)
Flying Eagle (1856 – 1858)
Indian Head (1859 – 1909)
Lincoln Wheat (1909 – 1958)
Lincoln Memorial (1959 – 2008)
Lincoln Bicentennial
Union Shield (2010 – Present)

Notably, no pennies were minted in 1815 due to a copper shortage caused by the War of 1812 with Great Britain. Also, the U.S. Mint switched temporarily to a steel cent in 1943 when an urgent need for copper to make munitions for World War II caused copper prices to spike. However, a few pennies that year were mistakenly struck in bronze, and those coins are extremely rare — one sold for $1.7 million at auction in 2010. Fun fact: A 16-year-old in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, came across one when he was given change at his high school’s cafeteria in 1947.

Cost to produce new coins

According to the U.S. Mint’s latest annual report, each new penny costs 3.69 cents to make and distribute. In comparison, each new nickel costs 13.78 cents to make and distribute, more than double the coin’s value, and each new dime costs 5.7 cents.

The U.S. issued more than 3.2 billion pennies during the 2024 fiscal year, according to the U.S. Mint, at a reported loss of around $85.3 million.

The end of the penny?

Despite repeated calls over the years to abolish the penny, the coin also has its fair share of fans.

Coin lobbying groups are fueling the debate. The Coin Coalition, an organization funded by vending machine manufacturers, video-arcade owners and soft drink companies, supports eliminating the penny. The interest group Americans for Common Cents — which receives a portion of its funding from Jarden Zinc Products, a company that sells zinc coin blanks to the U.S. Mint — lobbies in favor of keeping the U.S. penny in circulation.

Proponents of the penny’s elimination cite the potential to save money on production. Those in favor of preserving the penny say it plays an important role in keeping consumer prices down. Without pennies, cash prices for goods would need to be rounded to the nearest nickel.

Getting rid of the penny has modern-day precedent. Canada eliminated its 1-cent coin more than a decade ago, Australia withdrew its 1-cent coin from circulation in 1992, and New Zealand stopped issuing 1-cent coins in 1990.

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Daniel Bortz is a personal finance editor at AARP. His work has been published by the New York Times, Washington Post, Consumer Reports, Entrepreneur, Kiplinger, Newsweek, Money and other national publications.