What coin holds the record for "most expensive U.S. Cent"?

I know that the 1792 "Birch Cent" was a pattern coin, and if those are allowed, at $2.6 million, I'm pretty sure it would win... (see other threads here or here).

But if we limit it to actual coins meant for circulation, proofs, or even errors, what would the winner be? Is it a clear-cut answer?

Is it the 1943 copper-alloy cent at $1.7 million?

I guess the 1974-D "Aluminum" cent would be ruled out since the U.S. Mint took it back from its owner.

Thoughts?

 

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There are proof Large Cents, but my guess would be if there was a 1793 Cent or Half Cent that belonged to David Rittenhouse (1st Mint Director) with a pedigree that it would likely be among the contenders.

The Rittenhouse Half Disme sold for over M$1.3 a few years ago, it was the very first coin struck by the US Mint.

 

FYI, the reason I'm asking is that I'm doing a "U.S. Cent" presentation for some elementary school children, and I thought it would be fun to have some trivia.

I'll post the list in another thread.

Keep 'em comin', guys! Thanks.

 

Doug, if you're presenting on US Cents, the story of the early Mint in 1793 is a great story for kids.

The reason that they only minted Half Cents and Large Cents in 1793, as well as the story of how they needed an act of Congress to fix it, and that the President put up the money to bond the Chief Coiner and Assayer so that the Mint could produce gold and silver coins... That's a story all by itself!

 

Wow, Mike... I'll have to look into that. Do you have any particularly good links?

 

im me... I'll try to find one. I read it in a book from Whitman called "The History of The United States Mint".

If you go to coinshowradio.com, I reviewed the book.

 

Also, if you look on our website, at the What Walked In gallery, Matt has posted pictures of a high-end certified UNC Large Cent and a proof Large Cent

 

Nobody remembers the Parmalee Chain Cent that hammered at $2.35Mil two years ago?

 

good call, Dave!

 

Doug,
I'm sure that this is gone to open a can of worms...
But the 1974 D Aluminum cent wasn't taken from its rightful owner ,but the returned or confiscated stolen property .
And I understand others here would or will argue this point .....my reply is simple if one of your coins or a piece of property you lawfully own, ended up in the hands of another would you not want it back?
So this cent couldn't be considered as it was never issued in the first place.

 

Understood. I used the term "owner" in a loose sense of the word ;-)

Part of me wishes that the guy's dad *had* honestly, legitimately been given the coin, but that's a whole can of worms, like you said.

 

And Doug as a collector over 50 years.... I do also!

 

The President did not put up the bond, I believe he may have had a hand in reducing it from $10,000 to $5,000 for the Chief Coiner and $1,000 for the Assayer. (Nope it was the Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson who interceded with the Congress to get the bonds reduced,) If I remember correctly Rittenhouse put up the bond for one of the men, I don't remember who put it up for the other one. Roger Burdette has found the published the actual bond documents. I may have a copy of them but not readily at hand.

If the book you were thinking about is The Secret History of the United States Mint, by Joel Oroz and Leonard Augsburger, it is not in there.

OK it looks like Rittenhouse put up the bond for the Chief Coiner Henry Voight, and Gilbert Gilchrist put up the bond for the assayer Albion Cox

 

thanks for the correction, and the great info, conder

 

Is there actually a chain cent that pedigrees all the way back to Rittenhouse? Or is this just a what if?

 

It was a complete hypothetical based on my knowledge of a pedigreed Half Disme that he owned.

 

Ooooooh gotcha.

 

In large cents I think the oldest provenance we can trace are some 1794 large cents that we can trace back to 1795 from the Lord St Oswald Collection.

 

I thought that it would have been the 1904 Indian head cent struck on the gold planchet.

 

Here is one that is a close second in 2015 https://coins.ha.com/itm/large-cent...6-4011.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 .