Pennies are a problem. They are more trouble to produce than they’re worth. If you go back 220 years they had problems with the very first pennies. Congress dictated the copper content, but pure copper made them too big and heavy. So they tried putting a silver plug in the copper, and one of those experimental coins struck in 1792 comes up for auction this week at Heritage, with a $1m estimate.Officially, it is known as the 1792 Judd-1 Silver Center cent pattern. Silver center cents were the first coins struck at the U.S. Mint. They never went into production and only 14 are known to still exist. Congress simply reduced the amount of copper a one cent coin had to contain and they got rid of the silver plug idea. The Dallas sale is on April 18-19.
A Very Pretty ($1m) Penny
April 17, 2012
$3.6m Expected For Australia’s First Banknote
May 7, 2013Australia’s first banknote, issued 100 years ago, is expected to realize $3.6m in a private sale at Coinworks in Melbourne. If it does, it will be the highest price ever paid for an Australian coin or banknote. The 10 shilling bill, hand-numbered M000001 and issued May 1, 1913, was discovered 12 years ago among the effects of Judith Denman, daughter of Lord Denman, Australia’s governor-general at the time of the currency’s issue. The historic banknote last sold at auction for $1.9m.
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Over $3m For Rare Nickel
April 26, 2013Few American coins are as rare as the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel that Heritage offered this week in Illinois. Even fewer have as colorful a history. Recovered from a fatal car crash and initially dismissed as a fake, the coin—one of only five known examples– languished in a box for four decades. Only after what Heritage called “a secret midnight meeting in Baltimore in 2003,” did its owners discover its true value. Yesterday they received more substantial confirmation when it sold for $3,172,500.
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Grand Price Expected For $1000 Bill
April 3, 2013There was so much sliver pouring out of Nevada in the 1890s, they printed $1000 and $10,000 bills to soak up the bullion. That ended and the $1000 notes are now so rare, the only one believed still in private hands goes to auction at Heritage later this month for an anticipated $2m.
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Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
