If you see these pennies, pick them up. You will have a whole lot more than good luck.
Two rare US one-cent coins dating back to 1792 are anticipated to sell for nearly US$1 million at a public auction in southern California that started yesterday.
The copper coins, known as the “Silver Center Cent” and the “Birch Cent,” are expected to sell for about US$500,000 each and were made during the early days of the US Mint.
Photo: AP
“They’re classic American rarities,” said Eric Bradley, spokesman for Heritage Auction, the auction house holding the five-day sale in Anaheim, California.
They also have historical significance that goes beyond their collectible value, representing “the transition in American history from the colonies to a new republic,” Bradley said.
“These are coins that were developed and thought up by the founding fathers who were trying to differentiate themselves from British coinage and British rule,” he said.
Photo: AP
The words “Liberty Parent of Science & Industry,” which are engraved on both coins, also show how the US was trying to distance itself from the religious persecution and monarchy it associated with Britain, Bradley said.
The origin of the Silver Center Cent was referenced in a letter from US founding father Thomas Jefferson to the US’ first president, George Washington, and it is among the very first coins ever struck by the US Mint in Philadelphia, Bradley said.
According to the auction house, the coin went missing before eventually being discovered in an English pub in the 1960s.
The man who discovered it, Nigel Willmott, kept hold of it until 1997, when he eventually auctioned it for ￡28,750 (US$37,494 at current exchange rates), Bradley said.
The coin’s name derives from the fact that it was produced with a small insertion of silver at its center, a feature which made its intrinsic value equal to its face value.
It is one of about a dozen surviving coins known to exist with this insertion, Bradley said.
The sale is part of a five-day public auction of ancient world coins, US coins and paper currency expected to bring US$30 million, Bradley said.
It is also part of The World’s Fair of Money, a numismatic convention in Anaheim that runs from Tuesday through Saturday.
The event is expected to draw the interest of collectors globally.
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