1 million for a penny? Extremely rare 1792 coin set for auction
One of the very first pennies produced in the U.S., estimated to be worth $1 million, will be auctioned in Baltimore next week.
This rare 1792 penny is about to be auctioned off for 100 million times its value — and experts say it was likely held by the founding fathers
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- A rare 1792 penny is about to be auctioned off for about $1 million — 100 million times its monetary value, as Barron’s reported.
- The penny was printed as a prototype for the first US cent, a year before the US started using coin currency.
- This penny ended up being too big, so in 1793 the US Mint started making smaller, lighter pennies out of plain copper.
A rare, historic coin is about to be auctioned off for 100 million times its value.
The 1792 penny, made as a prototype for the first US cent, is worth an estimated $1 million.
It features an image of Lady Liberty (Abraham Lincoln didn’t appear on pennies until 1909) and text that reads “Liberty Parent of Science and Industry” instead of today’s “In God We Trust.”
“Every cent every American’s ever had in their pocket draws their lineage back to this one,” John Kraljevich, senior numismatist (someone who studies currency) at Stack’s Bowers, the auction house where the penny will be sold, told Barron’s.
It’s unknown how many of these pennies were made, but James McCartney, another numismatist at Stack’s Browers, estimated that only 10 or 11 have survived.
“This was the first attempt to make a cent and see if it worked,” he told Barron’s.
But the penny was ultimately found to be too big.
“It was much bigger than other copper coins,” McCartney said. “They probably thought it was just too unwieldy to continue. Then in 1793 they reduced the weight of the cent, and started making smaller cents out of plain copper.”
The text was also altered, changed from “Liberty Parent of Science and Industry” to “Liberty United States of America.”
The penny, known as a Birch Cent, was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson and seen firsthand by George Washington. It hasn’t been sold in more than 40 years, according to the auction house. The penny is part of a collection called Archangel that has coins from the American colonial era and through the creation of the US Mint in 1792, Barron’s reported.
The historic coin will be auctioned by Stack’s Bowers Galleries at the Whitman Expo in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 26.
“The collector who ends up with this Birch Cent will have the satisfaction of knowing that it very likely was held by our founding fathers, making it a very special piece of American history as well,” Brian Kendrella, president of Stack’s Bowers Galleries, said in a statement.
$1 million for a penny? Extremely rare 1792 coin set for auction
One of the very first pennies produced in the U.S., the 1792 Birch Cent, will soon be auctioned off and is estimated to be worth $1 million.
One of the very first pennies produced in the U.S., estimated to be worth $1 million, will be auctioned in Baltimore next week.
The 1792 Birch Cent will be auctioned by Stack’s Bowers Galleries at the Whitman Expo in Baltimore on Oct. 26.
Commissioned by Thomas Jefferson, only a handful of Birch Cents were minted as an example of what the newly-formed U.S. government was considering producing. The coins were seen first hand by Jefferson and George Washington, according to the auction house.
“This is the first American cent ever produced and represents a very unique piece of numismatic history,” said Brian Kendrella, president of Stack’s Bowers Galleries, in a statement. “It is the only one of its kind, making it a very exclusive coin to own. The collector who ends up with this Birch Cent will have the satisfaction of knowing that it very likely was held by our founding fathers, making it a very special piece of American history as well.”
Four types of Birch Cent were originally struck. This cent, known as the Judd-3, is the only one known to exist without lettering at its edge, says Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
Rare coins are big business. In 2015, another Birch cent sold for almost $1.2 million at auction, the Guardian reports.
A 1913 Liberty Head nickel was recently auctioned by Stack’s Bowers Galleries for $4.56 million. The Liberty Head nickel is one of only five in existence.
Earlier this year, a small $5 gold coin produced by the San Francisco Mint during the height of the California Gold Rush was estimated to be worth “millions of dollars.” The coin’s owner had initially thought that the money was fake.
Fox News’ Frank Miles and Chris Ciaccia contributed to this article.
Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
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