Nearly 700 of the last pennies produced in Philadelphia and Denver were sold in an auction last week for a total of $16.76 million, according to Stack’s Bowers Galleries, a coin auction organizer based in Santa Mesa, California.\u00a0<\/p>\n
U.S. Mint presented the company with hundreds of sets pennies \u2014 each containing three of types of coins. The auction’s overall sale total was one of the most valuable in the auctioneer’s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MORE:\u00a0Rally House could open first Center City store at former Rite Aid<\/a><\/p>\n In honor of the penny’s 232-year lifespan, 232 sets were sold Thursday. Each collection contained a 2025 penny struck at the mint in Philly, a 2025-D penny struck at the mint in Denver, and a 2025 penny struck with 24-karat gold at the mint in Philly. Every coin was printed with the symbol for Omega, the last letter in the Greek alphabet.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stack’s Bowers Gallery said the noon start time for the auction was slightly delayed after “unprecedented levels of collector interest” that sparked nearly four hours of competitive bidding. The final set, which also included the three sets of dies used to imprint the pennies, sold for $800,000. The auctioneer said it was as the “most valuable modern U.S. numismatic item,”\u00a0topping the sale of space flown 24-karat gold Sacagawea dollars\u00a0that sold for $550,000 in September.<\/p>\n “They captured the public imagination like few rare coins we’ve ever handled,” Brian Kendrella, Stack’s Bowers Galleries president, said in a statement<\/a>. “Even our staff of expert numismatists, who see the world’s most famous and valuable rare coins day in and day out, were excited by the chance to handle the very last pennies struck before the suspension of circulating production.”\u00a0<\/p>\n