President Donald Trump talks of big change during his second term in office, but he's not forgetting the small change.
The Republican ordered the Treasury Department to stop making pennies with a Feb. 10 sentence on social media that followed years of conservatives pointing out that putting a copper-coated zinc disc in your pocket costs the government more than a cent — almost 4 cents today.
Will the penny disappear? There is no sign the U.S. Mint will stop pressing pennies in Denver and Philadelphia, and Mint officials did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.
A girl uses a penny press machine March 2 at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J.
Still, the presidential penny pledge already was felt in one little-known world that depends on buying pennies wholesale, loading them into machines and persuading parents to pay a few dollars to stamp designs — Paw Patrol or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for example — on the coins as they are stretched between metal rollers.
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Small orbits of collectors and craftsmen developed around them. Without the penny, the whole thing faces an uncertain future.
A pressed, stamped penny is retrieved from a machine March 2 at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J.
No longer 100% copper
New copper pennies vanished from circulation in 1982 — 73 years after the first Lincoln penny was minted. They were replaced by coins of mostly zinc thinly coated with copper.
The old, solid copper ones were more pliable and easier to stamp, making them hot items for kids at funfairs an tourist sites.
"They'll clean 'em so when they elongate the dino or shark of the printed coin it maintains a ghost image of the printed head of Lincoln," said Brian Peters, general manager of Minnesota-based Penny Press Machine Co. "Pre-1982 copper pennies, they bring those."
Jeweler Angelo Rosato worked for decades in the 1960s and 1970s hand-printing pennies with scenes of their New Milford, Connecticut, hometown and historical and sentimental scenes. Everything was obsessively cataloged, including more than 4,000 penny photographs.
"We're big fans of the penny. Keep the penny," said Aaron Zablow of Roseland, New Jersey, who recently visited the American Dream Mall with two of his sons.
"I like the pennies," his 9-year-old son Mason said.
A boy plays with a penny press machine March 2 at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J.
The last pennies?
Critics say the rise of electronic commerce and the billions of pennies in circulation mean the U.S. could stop minting the copper coins tomorrow and see little widespread effect for decades.
Still, some people are watching fearfully to see if Trump's public critique of the penny will affect their business.
Alan Fleming of Scotland owns Penny Press Factory, one of a number of companies around the world that manufacture machines that flatten and stamp coins.
"A lovely retired gentleman in Boston sold me over 100,000 uncirculated cents a couple of years ago but he doesn't have any more," Fleming wrote. "I will need to purchase new uncirculated cents within the next 12 months to keep my machines supplied and working!"
Brentley Joyce, 8, and Hunter Kimbel, 7, look at a souvenir penny from a penny press machine March 2 at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J.
Regardless of what happens to niche businesses like Fleming's, penny defenders say they're an important tool for lubricating the economy even if they're a money-losing proposition.
Since the invention of money, humankind has wrangled with the question of small change, how to denominate amounts so small that the metal coin itself is actually worth more.
In 2003, Thomas J. Sargent and another economist wrote "The Big Problem of Small Change," billed as "the first credible and analytically sound explanation" of why governments had a hard time maintaining a steady supply of small change because of the high costs of production.
Brentley Joyce, 8, uses a penny press machine March 2 at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J.
Why pay money for coins?
In a digital world with the line blurring between the real and the virtual, tactile coins are reassuring.
"What this all tells you about the United States as a country is that it's an incredibly conservative country when it comes to money," said Ute Wartenberg, executive director of the American Numismatic Society.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters are sometimes designed by artists laser-sculpting tiny portraits of leaders and landmarks using special software.
"It's pretty cool because when I tell people what I do I just say my initials are on the penny," Joseph Menna, the 14th Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, said in the 2019 film "Heads-Up: Will We Stop Making Cents?"
Fleming hopes some lobbying may help: "Maybe we should take a trip to Washington and ask to speak to President Trump and Elon Musk and see if we can cut a deal on buying millions of pennies from them."
Why the age-old hobby of coin collecting is attracting Gen Z devotees
Why the age-old hobby of coin collecting is attracting Gen Z devotees
"I like coins for the aesthetics. I do not invest in cryptocurrency. I like something that you hold in your hand that other people have held in the past and bought stuff with or saved. I like the history," Rex Goldbaum, then 23 years old, told The New York Times in 2022. In an era where new technology often replaces old interests, the centuries-old hobby of coin collecting has become popular with a surprisingly young generation. investigated the hobby's recent rise among younger generations, including how it has remained culturally relevant even as cash use has dipped.
Collecting coins dates back to the Roman Empire, when emperor Caesar Augustus amassed them as gifts and bargaining chips in trade. The Renaissance later brought a resurgence of interest in antiquity, including "numismatics," which Merriam-Webster defines as "the study or collection of coins, tokens, and paper money…"
Since then, coins have fascinated people around the globe, spawning organizations such as the American Numismatic Society, the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association, the Royal Numismatic Society, the Israel Numismatic Society, and the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand, to name a few.
According to GovMint, at least identified as collectors in 2022; of those collectors, 17% collected coins. Through the years, there have been many reasons why people get into the hobby, and the U.S Mint endorses the activity as a way to connect with others through a shared interest, preserve key figures and moments in history, celebrate the artwork, and, of course, as an investment. Curated collections like the —believed to be the world's largest—also provide public education about the monetary value and broader cultural significance of currency.
Younger generations are keeping the tradition alive
It is rare to whip out cash in today's increasingly digital society. In 2022, reported using no cash during a typical week, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Despite this decline in cash use, coin collecting is a growing trend among younger generations. A survey by the U.K.'s Royal Mint found that Gen Z is most likely to start collecting; about 2 in 5 already have a collection and see it as an investment toward their future.
Millennials and Gen Z are driven by nostalgia and the desire to hold on to tangible objects in a world that becomes more digitally focused every day. In a video posted to his , Treasure Town Founder Christian Hartch revealed that part of the reason he came to numismatics was because of his family. "It's a hobby I've enjoyed doing with my dad and grandfather for a long time, and it's meant a lot to me," , who launched the channel at 17. As of August 2024, it boasts 182,000 subscribers.
Those who came of age during popular runs—the Olympic Commemorative Coins, released between 1983 and 2002, or the 50 State Quarters Program that ran from 1999 to 2008—find joy in hunting down these relics.
Because of their focus on tangible objects and emphasis on social activities, coin clubs may have also become spaces where young people can buttress themselves against the epidemic of loneliness and isolation, an issue the United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy about in 2023.
"Doing something that is good for your mental well-being is very important," coin collector Rowan Chetner told The Boston Globe. She characterized the Tufts Coin Club Collective, which only started as an official university club in 2023, as a "really fun and safe environment."
Clubs across the U.S. have even begun fostering a love for coin collecting in younger children. Boy Scouts of America offer a Coin Collecting Merit Badge, Girls Scouts of the USA offer a Fun with Money Council Patch, and the American Numismatic Association's Young Numismatists program has over 1,200 members between ages 5 and 18.
How technology is influencing the hobby
A recent tech infusion also makes this old-school hobby intriguing for younger generations. Many young collectors are finding their fascination with coins is turning a profit. Matthew Tavory started collecting at age 9 and began in high school. Now, his hobby has become a full-time business selling to dealers at coin shows and on eBay, which helps him pay for college.
"People always ask me, what prevents coins from going the way of the stamps? And I tell them there are tons of young kids on Instagram. It's easy to share, it's easy to be very personal. And it's just always expanding, young people getting into it," Tavory . Apps like LuckyCoin are also helping tech-savvy collectors buy and sell coins through eBay, as well as track their collections online.
Additionally, mints across the globe are drawing interest by creating new coins that glow in the dark, have unique colors, or can be scanned with a mobile phone to reveal more information. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, even make collecting entirely virtual, with unique digital coins that can be bought and traded just like real currency.
Which coins give the most bang for your buck?
Not all coins are created equal. Factors like rarity, condition, and demand can significantly impact their value. Unique coins, like commemorative editions and those with minting errors, can become quite valuable over time.
Those unfamiliar with the hobby might be surprised to learn that older coins can be worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. For example, the series of silver Nova Constellatio patterns, designed as proofs in 1783, is valued from each. The most valuable of the "Jefferson cents"—copper coins produced from 1793 to 1796—are worth up to $576,000. But the most expensive coin ever sold? A 1933 Double Eagle, which brought at a 2021 auction.
Age alone does not determine value, though. Less than a century old, the 1944 Steel Wheat is arguably the most valuable penny in 2024, estimated at $408,000. The 2000-P Sacagawea Dollar—called the "Wounded Eagle" for the misprint that looks like a scratch through the bird's body—is one of the most valuable coins still in circulation, selling for up to $7,200.
In 2023, the global coin collecting industry was valued at an astounding , according to Transparency Market Research. If growth continues on this trajectory, it is expected to reach nearly $44 billion over the next decade. With this potential for continued growth, both in popularity and financial payoff, it appears young numismatists have selected a lucrative hobby for years to come.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Paris Close.
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