Rare Penny in 1792 Sold for $1.15 Million

[Ed J]

Ever feel you can't save enouugh money for a coin.

 

If you haven't read this here it is. Rare penny minted in 1792 and never circulated was auctioned off for $1.15 million. There are believed to be only 14 copies of the rare penny in existence.The rare penny, made from copper and incases a small plug of silver, depicts Miss Liberty in the front side ringed by the phrase "Liberty Parent of Science & Industry." At the back side of it, it reads "United States of America One Cent." Todd Imhof, Executive Vice President of Heritage Auctions who organized the event, said that the silver was added to the penny to make it heavier. He also said that the penny was never actually put into circulation as it was just an experimental coin.

 

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[RichH]

In researching, this coin is literally Pattern #1 in Andrew Pollack's epic masterpiece "United States Patterns and Related Issues" , published 1994. It should be noted that the pattern was created in 3 different formats, 1- as described in the article, "Copper with a silver plug at the center, the silver being valued at three quarters the cent", 2- a formulation of billion consisting of three quarters of a cent worth of silver alloyed with one quarter cent worth of copper, and 3- pure copper. Interestingly, Pollack notes that the cents have diameters very nearly equal to the 1792 half dismes trialed. He thought it probable that the flans were all prepared using the same planchet cutter. One more interesting point, the plan to make small cents with silver plugs was probably designed to answer Alexander Hamilton's concern about the suceptibility to counterfeiting, with the silver center coins thought to be much more difficult to counterfeit as compare to the billion. Cheers !!!

[CyberspaceVoid]

Great research, Rich, and thanks!