The penny that costs more than twice as much to produce and that Donald Trump ordered to stop being minted in the United States
This piece has become the object of desire for thousands of coin collectors in the United States.
More information: If you have this coin, you have a treasure: this is the 25-cent coin worth thousands of dollars
The current administration of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has been characterized not only by its tough immigration policy, but also by making government efficiency a central point of work through various actions to reduce expenses.
And the best example of this series of strategies is the recent order issued by the Executive to the Department of the Treasury regarding the halt in the production of a penny, whose manufacturing cost is almost 4 cents.
As declared by the Republican through his official Truth Social account, this penny, mainly characterized by including a phrase related to Presidents' Day, celebrated on February 10, costs almost 4 cents to produce due to the copper-coated zinc disc that is part of its structure.
However, despite Trump's announcement, the United States Mint has not issued an official response, suggesting that the production of this famous penny will continue as usual until an official statement is made.
A niche at risk
Despite the lack of an official decree, the possible disappearance of this coin has started to affect a specific population group in the United States: collectors. For many of them, these elements have become a source of income through the numismatic market.
According to what was stated by the collector and distributor of ancient coins, Alan Fleming, to the NBC outlet, the rise of e-commerce and the large number of coins in circulation today could lead to the government of the United States stopping the production of these pennies overnight.
"A charming retired gentleman from Boston sold me over 100,000 uncirculated pennies a couple of years ago, but he has no more. I will have to buy new uncirculated cents in the next 12 months to keep my machines stocked and running,” Fleming noted.
The end of coins?
In 2003, the economist Thomas J. Sargent predicted that the "big problem with small change" would arise due to governments' difficulty in supplying these coins because of the high production costs.
However, according to Fleming and other collectors, physical coins can be “reassuring” in a digital world where the line between the real and the virtual is starting to blur.
*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence
