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How long until the pennies are gone?

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  • Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 9,099 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I believe they will remain around for decades.

    Investor
  • Coin FinderCoin Finder Posts: 7,540 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting question, I think people will hoard them for awhile. I wonder how long large cents were in circulation after the 1859 switch to the smaller size cent we know today?

  • Morgan WhiteMorgan White Posts: 11,964 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Coin Finder said:
    Interesting question, I think people will hoard them for awhile. I wonder how long large cents were in circulation after the 1859 switch to the smaller size cent we know today?

    *1857

  • Coin FinderCoin Finder Posts: 7,540 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yes! 1857! Thanks

  • cladkingcladking Posts: 29,030 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @softparade said:

    @cladking said:

    These coins are simply toast and the irony is there will be a tiny fraction as many 1968 pennies in ten years than there are 1919-S. 30% of the '19-S mintage will survive but a fraction of 1% of the 1968. Nothing can stop it because most of the 1968's are already gone and the millions that still exist today have a date with a crucible.

    So you're saying check out 68's?

    Welll... yeah, but more check out all the memorials. Most are common even in Gem but there's a lot of dates that are far tougher than the wheats in nice attractive grades. Most were poorly made and only some were set aside in huge numbers. The '68 was an exception because it was saved in large numbers but most have turned bad. But the real scarcity comes in Gem because very very few were well made. A few nice coins went into the mint sets but almost all the mint sets are gone and almost all the surviving '68-P's in them are tarnished. It's a tough coin but no one seems to know it and it's not the toughest. A nice clean '84 with flat surfaces in Gem, is virtually unknown. People stash AG '19-S's and never notice some later coins are tough.

    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • CregCreg Posts: 1,042 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2, 2025 11:43AM

    @Cougar1978 said:
    Expect to see them given out at Halloween for decades.

    Do not expect to see trick-or-treaters for decades after that; might as well toss some candy corn pieces in the sack.

  • rooksmithrooksmith Posts: 1,167 ✭✭✭✭

    Although we like to call them pennys, the penny is an english coin. The cent is the american US version, 1/100th. That being said, cents are going to be in circulation and accepted as currency forever. It'a hard to believe that the cent will go the way of the half cent soon, but it will

    The big question is whether they ever will be worth more than 1 cent at the bank. Nobody wants them except us collectors.

    I remember seeing a homeless bum sitting on Telegraph ave in Berkeley, CA who begged me "Spare change?" I reached in my pocket and had about 6 cents in "pennies", I handed them to him, and he looked at them and then threw them at me as I walked away. I guess my cash was nothing but trash. back in the 90's

    “When you don't know what you're talking about, it's hard to know when you're finished.” - Tommy Smothers
  • rooksmithrooksmith Posts: 1,167 ✭✭✭✭

    Do they still melt coins at the mint? I know theres a lot of copper in the nickel . Supposedly nickels cost the Treasury 8 cents to make. Why not melt down the old pennies (worth 3-4 cents in melt value for the zinc and copper). Or just make nickels out of steel like they did with pennies in 1943?

    “When you don't know what you're talking about, it's hard to know when you're finished.” - Tommy Smothers
  • LiquidatedLiquidated Posts: 333 ✭✭✭✭

    Seldomly use cash and when I do the transaction is in $1.00 denoms and no change. Personally no interest in receiving change and imagine outside of coin collectors most care less.

    Limiting to quarters only. There is that need. Nickels are as useless as pennies. Dimes possibly but not much need. Half Dollars? When did merchants stop the half? 1970’s?

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