To those who argue that the U.S. penny had no value: some coin collectors beg to differ.
In fact, they doled out millions for the final pennies circulated in the U.S. before the government ended the back in November.
The U.S. Mint sold 232 three-cent sets for a whopping sum of $16.76 million at an auction last Thursday hosted by Stack鈥檚 Bowers Galleries.
The 232nd set 鈥� containing the last three pennies ever made 鈥� sold for $800,000. That bidder also got the three dies that struck those Lincoln cents.
John Kraljevich, director of numismatic Americana at Stack鈥檚 Bowers, said it was the kind of auction where you don’t know the items’ market value until people make their bids.
鈥淚鈥檝e been going to coin auctions for 40 years, and I can tell you, I鈥檝e never seen anything like this, because there鈥檚 never been anything like this,鈥� Kraljevich said.
Stack鈥檚 Bowers President Brian Kendrella said: 鈥淭hey captured the public imagination like few rare coins we鈥檝e ever handled.鈥�
When it was , a penny could buy a biscuit or a piece of candy. Now most of them are tucked away into jars or junk drawers.
They can also be relics of history for coin collectors.
Each set comprised 2025 pennies struck at the Philadelphia Mint, the Denver Mint and a 24-karat gold penny to cap off the end of an era. Each cent also bore a unique Omega symbol.
There were 232 grouplets to reflect each year the coin had been embedded in American culture.
鈥淎merican culture has incorporated the penny into our lexicon, into our pop culture, into all of this stuff,鈥� Kraljevich said. 鈥淎nd I think for a lot of people, the ending of production of cents for circulation is an item of nostalgia.鈥�
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse 草莓传媒 Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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