The penny, the iconic copper American coin, dies at 232 The penny, the United States' iconic one-cent coin whose copper face and everyman symbolism endeared it to millions of Americans before it fell into change-drawer obscurity, died on Nov 12, 2025
What Year did the U. S. Mint Stop Making Copper Pennies? In 1962, the penny returned to the gilding metal composition, which was issued until 1982 when the final 95% copper pennies were minted The price of copper rose in the 1970s to the extent that pennies almost contained their face value in copper
The Penny Dies at 232 - The New York Times Starting in 1982, and until its death, the penny, so associated with its copper color, was in fact 97 5 percent zinc and merely 2 5 percent copper plating
Celebrating the penny as U. S. Mint ends production : NPR This tiny disc of zinc with just a smidge of copper has played an outsized role in our national (and international) discourse The U S Mint ended production of the one-cent coin last week
Farewell to a Copper Icon: The U. S. Mint Presses Its Final Pennies . . . The final pennies will be auctioned, likely fetching a collector’s premium that far exceeds one cent—a poetic end for a coin whose value had fallen below its cost to create The Trump Order That Sealed the Penny’s Fate President Donald Trump ordered the phaseout earlier this year, citing inefficiency and waste
What the Pennys Death Means for Customers and Businesses The penny has died At the age of 232, the iconic coin’s final batch was minted in Philadelphia on Wednesday But while the copper-plated-zinc currency is dead, it is not yet gone: the estimated