Cash to be made by taking leave of your cents (2024)

It's been more than 20 years since Paul Keating decided to delete 1¢ and 2¢ coins from the Australian currency. They started to disappear in 1992, when we rounded out prices to the nearest 5¢.

While some predicted the collapse of the fiscal system, few regret the demise of the feathertail glider and the frill-necked lizard.

But recently, something interesting has been happening.

One antique dealer told me he's been picking up any old jars of 1¢ and 2¢ pieces he finds at auction and selling the coins for 50¢ each. And they sell, quickly. People regard them as curios and like to keep a few as souvenirs.

They also appear on eBay, priced more optimistically. The going rate for a circulated 1¢ or 2¢ coin is $3 while those in mint (uncirculated) condition can be worth up to $15. Rarities, such as a 1966 ''mis-struck'' coin, are listed for $95.

The situation is different in America, where 1¢ coins - better known as ''pennies'' - are still in active circulation. They are given little more than nuisance value by many, especially cashiers, but there is no sign of them disappearing. Four new designs were issued in 2008 to mark the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

According to National Geographic magazine, most of the seven billion 1¢ coins minted in the US every year disappear after the first transaction, ending up forgotten in drawers or lost down sewers.

They cost a lot more to produce than they are worth.

Since 1982, the American variety has been made of 97.5 per cent zinc and demand for that material is skyrocketing. Australia's 1¢ and 2¢ coins were predominantly copper, plus small quantities of tin and zinc.

While it is estimated that millions of US tax dollars could be saved if they followed Paul Keating's lead, the pressure to keep the penny alive is powerful, led, of course, by the zinc lobby.