Current estimates by the U.S. Mint place the number of pennies in circulation at around
140 billion. Others have estimated as many as 200 billion currently circulating. Since the
first penny was minted in 1787, until present-day, over 300 billion pennies have been minted
in the United States. So that leaves about 100 billion pennies that have been retired by the
Mint, lost down sewer drains, stored in jars, smashed by trains, or collected by numismatists
in the past 200 years.