rare coin

Rare Penny Sells For $1.7 Million

When is a penny worth $1.7 million? The cent shown at right is no average coin, it's a one-of-a-kind Lincoln cent, mistakenly struck in 1943 at the Denver Mint in bronze rather than the zinc-coated steel used that year to conserve copper for World War II. It has been sold by Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey for $1.7 million to an unnamed Southwestern business executive. The coin's anonymous former owner made arrangements for the entire sale proceeds to go to a charitable organization.

"This is the world's most valuable penny. 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 II, 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 rare coin dealer Laura Sperber, President of Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey who obtained the unique penny for the unnamed collector.

The new owner has been a coin collector since he was a teenager. When he was a kid he thought he had found a 1943 copper penny in circulation but it was not authentic. He is "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.

Tags: coin collecting, coins, numismatics, rare coin, rare penny

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Silver Dollar Sets New World Record

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

A rare 1794 U.S. silver dollar has set a record price. The Neil/Carter/Contursi specimen 1794 Flowing Hair Silver Dollar sold for $7.85 million. What makes this particular coin so rare is that it is the finest known 1794 dollar and several experts believe this could be the first silver dollar ever struck by the United States Mint.

The coin was sold by Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Irvine, California, to the nonprofit Cardinal Collection Educational Foundation in Sunnyvale, California. Contursi has had the coin since 2003, acquiring it for a price he's only ever defined as "millions of dollars." He has displayed the coin in cities around the country and had a custom wooden exhibit case constructed so it could be seen more easily. When it wasn't on tour it was a featured exhibit at the American Numismatic Association's Edward C. Rochette Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Tags: 1794 silver dollar, contest, flowing hair silver dollar, most expensive coin, rare coin, rare coins, silver coins, silver dollar, silver dollars

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Rare Nickel Could Fetch $3 Million

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

The rare U.S. nickel above has quite the interesting story. The 1913 Liberty Head nickel is one of only five known of that specific date and design. The coin, which was owned by King Farouk of Egypt was seen by viewers in an episode of 'Hawaii Five-O,' entitled 'The $100,000 Nickel' in 1973. In 1978 Los Angeles Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, paid $200,000 for the coin and it has changed hands several times since then, jumping in value each time.

The nickel will be auctioned off by Heritage Auctions at a coin collectors event in Orlando, Florida on January 6, 2010. It is expected to sell for $3 million or more. The coin is rare because while the U.S. Mint struck tens of millions of Liberty Head nickels from 1883 through 1912, it switched designs in 1913 to depict a Native American on the "head's" side and a bison on the "tail's" side. But five nickels with the new date, 1913, but the old Liberty design were secretly made at the Philadelphia Mint and eventually sold to collectors. One of the coins is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; another belongs to the American Numismatic Association (ANA) Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the three others, including the coin in the January auction, are privately owned by collections.

UPDATE: This coin sold for $3,737,500 at auction. The winning bid is according to Heritage Auctions "a very advanced East Coast coin collector" who had wanted this rare piece to round out his collection.

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Tags: coin collecting, CoinCollecting, coins, liberty coin, LibertyCoin, rare coin, RareCoin

Tiny Half Dime Sells For Over One Million Dollars

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

A tiny piece of change brought in some big money recently. The 1870-S half dime is a small silver coin struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1870. The coin was sold as part of a New Jersey man's collection of 93 mint-condition half dimes to Laura Sperber, President of Legend Numismatics of Lincroft, New Jersey. The entire collection went for $2.2 million and the 1870-S has a value of $1.4 million.

This tiny coin, a forerunner to the modern nickel, was not even known to exist until 1978. There were plans to create the coin but Mint records showed that no 1870-dated half dimes were made at San Francisco Mint. Then in 1978 this coin turned up in Chicago. It was sold for $425,000 and changed hands several times since then. It has been certified genuine by Professional Coin Grading Service of Newport Beach, California.

What's really interesting is that Sperber and Legend Numismatics originally bought the coin for $661,250 at an auction in 2004 and then sold to the New Jersey collector. The company re-purchased it five years later for more than double that price, and has already sold it along with the New Jersey man's other half dimes for an undisclosed amount.

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Tags: collectibles, half dime, HalfDime, numismatics, rare coin, RareCoin

Half-Dime Sells for $1.3 Million

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

A rare 1792 half-dime sold at the Central States Numismatic Society convention last Thursday night to a private collector for $1.33 million. The coin is believed to be one of the first minted by the United States. The half-dime, or "disme," as it was originally spelled, was in excellent condition and believed to be one of the best examples of the few hundred that remain around today. It depicts the figure of Liberty, a woman with flowing hair, on one side, and an eagle on the reverse. The cataloger for the Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, which was selling the coin, said that the coin might have been pressed twice at the time of minting because it's details are so clear.

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Tags: auction, coin, collector, dime, half-dime, mint, nickel, rare coin