1793 penny auctioned off for $1.38 million
Associated Press January 9, 2012 9:43AM
This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions shows the front and back of one of the first pennies struck at the United States Mint in Philadelphia. This 1793 Chain Cent sold for a record $1,380,000 in a public auction conducted by Heritage Auctions at a coin collectors convention in Orlando, Fla. on Wednesday evening, Jan. 4, 2012. The linking rings on the back of the coin were intended to represent the original 13 colonies, but critics claimed the chain was symbolic of slavery and the design was quickly changed with a wreath replacing the chain. (AP Photo/Heritage Auctions)
Updated: February 11, 2012 8:10AM
An uncirculated one-cent copper coin from the earliest days of the U.S. Mint in 1793 has sold for a record $1.38 million at a Florida auction. The sale price was “the most a United States copper coin has ever sold for at auction,” says James Halperin of Texas-based Heritage Auctions. The coin was made at the Mint in Philadelphia in 1793 — the first year that the United States made its own coins. The name of the buyer wasn’t revealed. The penny shows no wear on its lettering, its Lady Liberty face or the chain of linking rings on its back. It’s known as a “Chain Cent” because its chain of linking rings was supposed to represent the solidarity of the states. The design was changed to a wreath after some critics claimed it was symbolic of slavery.
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