Mock funeral for penny held at Lincoln Memorial after production ends
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People gathered in the nation’s capital on Saturday to pay their respects to the penny.
Following the end of production of the one-cent coin, a mock funeral was held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, hosted by financial management platform Ramp. FOX 10 reported.
Attendees surrounded the casket as speakers, including actors portraying former President Abraham Lincoln and former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, delivered eulogies.
According to the Associated Press, a portrait consisting entirely of coins depicting Abraham Lincoln, whose likeness is on the coin, was also exhibited at the event.
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Men dressed as former President Abraham Lincoln carry a casket down the stairs in front of the Lincoln Memorial during a mock funeral for the penny stopped earlier this year on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
According to FOX 10, the actors who played President George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth, were among the mourners.
The crowd also included people dressed as Santa Claus and Pennywise the clown from the movie “It.”
Ramp economist Ara Kharazian presented an “autopsy report” outlining the economic death of the penny.
The funeral took place when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struck the nation’s last penny last month, marking the official end of penny production.
The penny has been a part of US currency from the very beginning. It was first authorized under the Coinage Act of 1792.
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For more than 230 years, this penny has been floating around in American piggy banks and cash registers.
But rising production costs (it now costs almost 4 cents to earn every penny) and changes in consumer behavior, such as the rise of digital payments, have made it impossible to continue producing them.
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People gather in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, to throw money into the coffin during a mock funeral that was stopped earlier this year. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
In February, President Donald Trump announced plans to halt penny production.
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“For too long, the United States has printed money that literally costs us more than 2 cents,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is such a waste! I have instructed my US Treasury Secretary to stop creating new money.”
FOX Business’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
