Supply and Demand of the 2025 Lincoln Cent
With the 2025 Lincoln cent minted only in January, could scarcity drive demand? History suggests otherwise—here’s why collectors should take a closer look.
As might be anticipated, the month's biggest news is our Lincoln cent. It’s been no secret that our lowest denomination coin has been being produced at a loss to the U.S. Mint for some time. The cent has degenerated from being comprised of copper to a cheaper mix of metals that quickly deteriorates. It also costs approximately triple to produce its face value. So much for any possible seigniorage profit.
It didn’t take long for President Trump to realize what Congress and the Mint have known for some time—that the coin should follow the half cent, 2-cent, 3-cent, half dime, and 20-cent coins into history due to having become impractical. Circulating gold coins are also gone, but that has more to do with the dramatic increase in the intrinsic value of these coins. It is yet to be seen if Congress will try to challenge an executive action stopping the production of the cent. It is their prerogative.
The late Arizona senators John McCain and Jim Kolbe attempted to legislate the cent out of circulation for years. The only part the president has overlooked is demanding that the same rounding laws used in Europe to avoid inflationary cash transactions be set in place. From a collector’s view, the fact that the 2025 cent was only produced in January suggests those cents could be rare. Collectors shouldn’t forget that the 1950-D nickel, among others, was obtained and hoarded by the roll, making the low mintage figure irrelevant. (Incidentally, it costs about 13 cents to mint a nickel.)
Mintage does not necessarily mean rarity. Supply versus demand plays a more critical role. Nonetheless, the 2025 cent mintage may only amount to about 250,000 coins. Stay tuned to see what happens.
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