A lot of people might not think pennies are worth anything, but one expert says there is one that could be worth a lot of money. The 1983 one-cent coins can be worth up to $20,000 if they have a flaw in their production and weigh more than 3 grams.
People who collect coins are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for them. Coins from 1982 and 1983 are especially sought after. A TikTok creator and numismatic expert named @wheatstoshields recently got a lot of attention for showing off a 1983 coin that sold at auction for more than $20,000.
Check your pockets and this penny could be worth a fortune
These coins are valuable because of a mistake that was made when the U.S. Mint was changing over in the 1980s. In 1983, to save money, the Mint stopped making copper-cored pennies and started making zinc pennies that were covered in copper.
Still, some coins were made by mistake with centers made of copper only. One of these rare coins recently sold at auction for over $20,000, which is a crazy amount of money. The only way to tell these coins apart is to weigh them. Most 1983 coins weigh between 2.5 and 2.7 kg, but some rare coins with copper centers weigh more than 3 grams.
The person who made the video warns that it is very important to use the right scale to measure them correctly. She also says that scales that only show grams should have inaccurate readings because they might round the numbers wrong, giving wrong numbers.
The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) says that it could be worth a lot of money to find a 1983 coin that weighs more than 3 grams on the right scale. In 2023, a copper coin from 1983 sold at auction for $1,140. This shows how valuable these old coins are.
Americans might not know about this about the US penny
Even though it was one of the first coins made by the U.S. Mint when it opened in 1792, the coin’s history goes back to ancient times. It came from the Roman denarius, a coin that was made in 211 BC and was worth the same as a worker’s daily wage.
The name of the coin comes from the Latin word “deni,” which means “holding ten.” During the rule of Emperor Gordian III, from 238 to 244 CE, the money was not used.
Because copper prices were going up, Congress made the penny smaller and stopped making the half-cent in 1857. This made Americans unhappy. Now that the half-cent is no longer being made, the penny is the only coin in the US that has been consistently made and used since the U.S. Mint opened.
The United States Mint sent out 4.1 billion pennies for circulation in 2023, down from 8.4 billion in 2017 and 5.4 billion in 2022. As of right now, there are 1.4 billion pennies in circulation, 2.7 billion dimes, 2.3 billion quarters, and up to 18 million half dollars.
To take pennies out of circulation, Congress would have to pass a law and the president would have to sign it. This is because the U.S. Mint makes coins based on what Congress says. Laws have been tried and failed several times to get rid of the penny. In 2017, for example, Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and John McCain (R-AZ) backed currency optimization.
Should the US penny remain in circulation?
Keeping the US penny around protects people with low incomes and encourages people to spend little. It is also easy and cheap to make, and it can be used for decades to raise money for good causes.
But because the penny is not worth much, some people think it should be taken out of circulation, just like other coins in US history. Making them is expensive, both in terms of money and the environment. Cutting pennies would speed up the checkout process without hurting customers, businesses, or non-profits.