Pennies not forgotten yet
I have been asked several times, are the pennies still worth anything? The answer is yes and they always will be. However they are seldom seen in circulation.
The banks will still take the coins, but retailers, at their discretion, may or may not if they don’t want to. That is one reason why the government has implemented rounding off, either up or down to the nearest five cents.
There are still many pennies around for those of you who are collecting the penny. Any collector or dealer will still have a good selection to pick from. Some of the older pennies have some value. Here are several pennies that are worthwhile to have.
The first of the large pennies under the Province of Canada was issued in 1858 with a value of about $40-plus. The year 1859 has several varieties, some of which fetch in the hundreds of dollars (mostly for the double date). The first Canadian penny, “Victoria” large penny, came out in 1876. These average coins range in price from $1-$3 unless you, again, have certain varieties, which in some cases could be worth up to $100. These varieties are very hard to see in the average condition coin, as it is worn too much to make out the differences. You need a better quality coin to see that. The last year that the Large Penny existed was 1920. In 1920 they also made the small penny (as we know it today). The 19221925 coins are worth the most. The average condition coin could be worth between $10 and $30 depending on condition, and year. The balance of the coins to late ’30s could only be worth five to 20 cents.
If you should be lucky to have a 1936 dot (highly unlikely though), one sold in January, in SP66 grade for $402,500. From 1940 to present the pennies are worth not much more than face value, with the following exceptions. Here are some key dates: 1948 “A” to 1949 “A” between; 1953 SF; 1955 NSF; 1965 variety 4; and 1985 pt5.
The Royal Canadian Mint started plating the penny in 1999 to cut the costs of production, and starting marking the pennies with a “P”. There are only eight known 2000P pennies in mint shape, therefore if you had one of these you could almost set your price.
In 2006 the mint went wild and produced eight different varieties of the penny (zinc, steel, bronze, no “P”, “P”, “M”). The 2006P non magnetic in MS condition could sell for about $300.
As for the future of the penny it will always be worth something and as years go on the penny may increase slightly in value but it will not happen overnight, it will take years. There are still billions of pennies that have not been reclaimed yet.