Rare penny fetches $1.15 million in Schaumburg auction
Sun-Times Staff April 19, 2012 10:38PM
Close-up of the 1792 U.S. experimental cent penny that will sell for more than $1.2 million in a public auction which ends Thursday evening at the Schaumburg Renaissance Convention Center on April 19, 2011. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Times
Updated: May 21, 2012 9:01AM
An extremely rare, experimental 1792 penny that was one of the first ever struck by the United States Mint has sold for $1.15 million at an auction in Schaumburg.Kevin Lipton of Beverly Hills, Calif., bought the penny for a group of unidentified investors,
picking it up in the auction Thursday at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center, according to Jim Halperin, a spokesman for Heritage Auctions.
The winning bid was $1 million, but the investors also must pay the auction house’s 15 percent commission.
The coin, which was never put into circulation, is one of only 14 surviving examples of the rare silver-center cent pieces.
It was made with a copper ring that surrounds a small plug of silver, which was added to make the penny heavier.
On one side of the coin, a depiction of Miss Liberty is ringed by the phrase “Liberty Parent of Science & Industry.” The back of the coin reads “United States of America One Cent.”
The same coin was last sold at a public auction in 1974, when it went for $105,000.
Contributing: AP
