A famous, one-of-a-kind Lincoln cent from World War Two has been sold by a New Jersey coin dealer for a record $1.7 million.
The coin was mistakenly struck from the wrong metal, 67 years ago. It was purchased by a Southwestern United States business executive, and proceeds from the sale went to a charity.
"This is the world's most valuable penny," said rare coin dealer Laura Sperber, President of Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey who obtained the unique penny for the unnamed collector.
"It's the only known example of a 1943-dated Lincoln cent incorrectly struck in a copper alloy at the Denver Mint.
"Zinc-coated steel was being used for pennies in 1943 to conserve copper for other uses during World War Two, and this one was mistakenly struck on a bronze coin disc left over from 1942.
"It took four years of aggressive negotiations with the coin's owner until he agreed to sell it," said Sperber.
From teenage collector to million dollar coin dealer
According to Sperber, the new owner is a prominent Southwestern business executive who's been collecting since he was a teenager, searching through pocket change looking for rare coins.
"As a youngster he thought he'd actually found a 1943 copper penny in circulation but it was not authentic.
 The unique 1943 Denver Mint bronze cent, sold for $1.7 million |
"He still has that in his desk drawer, but now he's the only person to ever assemble a complete set of genuine 1943 bronze cents, one each from the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints, and he plans to display them," said Sperber.
The coin's anonymous seller reportedly donated it to a charitable organisation so that all of the proceeds would go to a good cause.
The one-of-a-kind piece of numismatic history
Key to the coin's immense value is that most 1943 pennies are steel-gray in colour and not worth much more than face value.
"Don't think you hit the jackpot if you have a common 1943 cent in the sock drawer," said Don Willis, President of Professional Coin Grading Service of Santa Ana, California.
"There were tens of millions of pennies made of steel in 1943, and most are worth only a few cents each today.
"We estimate that less than 20 pennies were erroneously struck in bronze that year at the Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints, and this is the only known example from the Denver Mint.
"That's what makes genuine bronze 1943 Lincoln cents so valuable."
Error-struck coins equal great investments
In addition to the $1.7 million coin, the anonymous Southwest collector also paid $250,000 for a 1944-dated Philadelphia Mint cent. It was mistakenly struck on a zinc-coated stell coin blank intended only for 1943 pennies.
They also paid $50,000 for an experimental 1942 cent composed mostly of tin.
According to Sperber, the collector's valuable, error-made World War Two-era cents will be publicly displayed at a major rare coin convention in Tampa, Florida, January 6- 8, 2011.
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