With hundreds of pennies dating to 1793 spread before him, Fred Cook chronicled how he’d gone all-in on copper.

A collector for seven decades, he slowly liquidated other valuable coins as he focused on building up his penny collection. The result is a display of historic, high-quality pennies in hard plastic sheets within binders, like baseball cards.

Cook, 78, who lives in a Baltimore area senior center, rattled off the collections he has sold: two-cent pieces, three-cent pieces, Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, Roosevelt dimes, Washington quarters, Standing Liberty quarters, Barber quarters.

“Sold most all of them over the years to upgrade all my copper,” he said.

As an 8-year-old paper boy, Cook was once paid with 30 pennies that were more than a half-century old. His curiosity took off from there. By the time he was a teenager, local storeowners and bank tellers knew him as the kid constantly trying to swap coins with them.

“I always loved the Lincoln cent,” he said on a recent call — noting that he was at his desk, appraising another person’s collection of more than 60,000 early 20th century pennies.

The U.S. Treasury announced last month it will sunset the modern penny, known as the “Lincoln cent,” citing the four cents it costs to produce a single coin. It has been in circulation since 1909, to mark the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, and is the longest-running coin series in U.S. history.

The 2026 pennies are expected to be the last ones minted.

Ditching the penny is unlikely to have a major impact on the average consumer; cash transactions might end up being rounded to the nearest nickel, but the value of a cent will still exist in bank ledgers and on credit card statements.

It means something to collectors, though, who cherish the coin’s history and longevity. Now that the Lincoln cent is on its way out, however, penny collections are expected to increase slightly in value.

Baltimore annually hosts some of the biggest coin shows in the country, where currency cognoscenti barter over rarities. There is an entire ecosystem based upon certifying and appraising certain coins.

Andrew Graber, a local coin dealer, described the Lincoln cent as a fun series. He often sees “young numismatists” — the term for coin collectors — interested in them. Compared to centuries-old coins, they are easier to obtain.

Given the demise of the penny, though, Graber anticipates a rush to banks this year to obtain 2025 pennies before they increase in value. Coin shops have already had customers come in searching for rolls of 2025 pennies, and shrewd sellers on eBay are peddling 50 cents worth of pennies for $14.

“The hardcore Lincoln cent collector is probably going to be hoarding cents as much as they can afford to, so they don’t have to pay a premium later,” Graber said.

Cook is among the chorus of collectors who hopes that the federal government will continue to mint a small number of pennies, specifically for hobbyists. Otherwise, it would mark the end of an era that spans four centuries.

“I think it would be a travesty,” Cook said.

To acquire one of his most prized pieces, a 1793 with a personification of Liberty on it, Cook swapped cash and thousands of dollars worth of other coins.

Few can match him, but he has a rival in lockstep very nearby: Ken, a neighbor at the senior center who asked not to be identified by his last name for fear that thieves would target his collection, which is valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The friendly competitors have painstakingly acquired pennies over the years. Cook’s older pennies — from the 18th century and early 19th centuries, when the coin was larger than a modern-day quarter — are superior to Ken’s.

But Ken’s newer ones are of a higher grade. At one point, his late-19th century pennies were ranked No. 4 in the country by a grading service.

Both belong to three coin clubs, two of which overlap. Asked how many pennies they own, the coin-oisseurs shook their heads at the impossible calculation. Certainly in the hundreds of thousands. Ken slowly leaned over to grab a crate full of thousands of pennies, shaking it to let the noise provide the answer.

One recent afternoon, the two hobbyists met up to show off their copper cornucopia. Spread out on a bed in Ken’s study were binders of hundreds of pennies worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Almost all were protected by cases. Cook applies a cream that’s typically used on vehicle headlights to cure any scratches on the plastic, ensuring perfectly encased coins.

Coins are graded on a 70-point scale, with anything over 60 considered to be “mint,” and when Cook pointed out that some of Ken’s mid-19th century coins are not rated as high as a 65, Ken protested. That prompted Cook to take a mild shot at a rare 1856 penny.

“Well, your ‘56 isn’t a 65. It’s a 15,” he said. They both laughed.

Cook noted that in 2019, special pennies were minted in West Point, New York, especially for collectors. That was news to Ken. Cook boasted that he has two such pennies.

“Smartass,” Ken said.

They are rivalrous. But asked, separately, to pick which collection is stronger, they each point to strengths of the other’s.

Collecting pennies isn’t just about getting one from every year. It’s about getting each type. Modern pennies are minted in either Philadelphia, Denver or San Francisco, and collectors seek coins emblazoned with a corresponding “P,” “D” and an “S” from each year. Older pennies, obviously, are more precious.

Even when a collection is complete, it can always be upgraded by finding higher quality coins.

To discuss coins is to use shorthand for various eras and pieces. A “Flying Eagle,” for example, is a penny minted for three years in the mid-19th century, imprinted with an eagle.

But, really, the coin should not be called a penny, at all.

“It’s actually one-cent pieces,” Charles Richardson, manager at Certified Rarities, recently explained. “Penny” is a British term that serious collectors do not tend to use.

Harford Coin Company has coins dating back more than 2,500 years, but the store doesn’t buy and sell many modern pennies since so many are minted.

Still, second-generation owner Alex Lynn knows facts about the coin off the top of his head: Did you know that in 1815 no pennies were minted in the U.S. due to a copper shortage caused by the War of 1812?

Soon, the year 2026 will join 1815 in penny lore.

“Folks who are dedicated collectors of coins in general have known this day was coming for a long time,” Lynn said.

The newest pennies will soon be in Ken’s collection; he has already ordered 2025 coins cased in plastic.

Cook, by chance, has acquired a few himself.

He recently received two 2025 pennies in change at Walmart and, quickly realizing the year, asked the cashier if she had any more.

She had 11. He “bought” them all.