Legislation to Officially Stop the One-Cent Piece
Congress moves closer to ending production of the 1-cent coin, but billions of cents will remain in circulation, giving collectors plenty of reasons to keep searching.
On August 7, the U.S. Senate passed S. 1525, better known as the Common Cents Act. A similar bill titled HR 3074 was passed by the House of Representatives on July 14. What this legislation ensures is that the demise of the 1-cent coin may finally be at hand. The cent was supposed to cease production simply because the president said so. It actually takes an act of Congress to make that happen legally. That’s what appears to be about to happen—finally.
This does not withdraw or demonetize the denomination. The legislation will officially stop production with no chance of resurrecting it at some future date. The legislation will also establish federal government-mandated rounding rules and options for prices when something is purchased for cash. The important part of this legislation for merchants is that, once and for all, they will have options when dealing with cash transactions where prices haven’t been rounded to the nearest five cents. The 5-cent coin, of course, may also be on the chopping block due to being too expensive to mint.
If you do the math, there are approximately 800 1-cent coins for every U.S. citizen. The cent isn’t about to simply go away. The cent as a denomination isn’t rare. Savvy collectors understand any cent dated 1981 or earlier has about four cents in copper in it. Collectors will continue to enjoy the hunt for the copper cents. Speculators need to understand it is against the law to melt these coins. Collectors are already looking for desirable individual cents and rolls. Red and Brown examples of almost any date encountered in circulation are increasingly being sought. Due to the continuing availability of the cent, you can count on grade rarity becoming an important factor for any retrieved from circulation, regardless of dates and mintmarks.
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