Was reading this morning about 1792 cent auctioned for $400,000. The article stated it was the 9th known specimen. Oddly enough both the silver center cent & the birch cent had 8 known specimens. ( according to the Red Book) Can anyone say which cent was auctioned? The historical significance of this find is waaaay cool I think. Dave
Here's the CNN article on it: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/22/penny.auction.ap/index.html . According to the article, it's a new discovery, not previously known to the coin community.
Check your tin cans... BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - A copper penny minted in 1792 and kept in a tobacco tin for decades was auctioned Monday for $437,000. The winning bidder was not identified. The penny's owners were descendants of Oliver Wolcott, the governor of Connecticut in the 1790s and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, according to auctioneer Ira Goldberg. "The historical importance of this coin cannot be overstated," said Michael Sherman, vice president of Professional Coin Grading Service, which directed a team of experts who authenticated the coin. The chocolate-colored penny, the ninth known example of its type, bears the date 1792, an inscription "Parent of Science & Industry: Liberty," and the likeness of a woman's head representing Miss Liberty, Goldberg said. The owners surprised collectors with its existence in August when the brought the valuable penny to the American Numismatic Association World's Fair of Money convention in Pittsburgh.
I wonder what grade it was in? I heard about it today on Paul Harvey-- Its is said that Anthony Terranova bought it... Speedy
If that is a photo of the actual cent auctioned (in the article by CNN that MORGANFRED added) then it is a Silver centered cent, not the Birch. I think it's very exciting that a coin over 200 years old, of which there is less than 2 dozen known examples, is now surfacing. Talk about history of this country! Cool, Cool, Cool
I don't understand, I expected alot more buzz about this coin. Perhaps because this cent was 1st revealed last Aug. the more "learned" collectors among you already knew it was found. Am I the only one who thinks this find is pretty neat??? Dave
Finding the coin isn't that much of a mystery, but who Tony was buying the coin for, sure would be interesting. Care to take a guess?
Not guilty! I have absolutely no interest in this coin, or any like it. So the field is wide open for you or anyone else to make a play for the coin in question. Have fun!
My biggest gripe about this coin is that we really don't know what it is or how many of them are known. PCGS didn't bother to identify it completely. They slabbed it as a J-2 because it doesn't have a silver center, but the non-silver center comes either as a pure copper coin or with the silver alloyed with the copper. There were only two known of one and six known of the other. The only way to be sure which one it is is by a specific gravity test. Well when this coin was discovered and they certified it I specificly asked them what the specific gravity was. Their answer was "We don't know." So it is now "certified" as a genuine (might be a) J-2. And it is either an R-8- coin or an R7- coin. (They did know the weight and it implies that it is the R-8-, one of three known variety. but now we'll possibly never know for sure.)
