FIGHT CONTINUES OVER 1974-D ALUMINUM CENT

The fight for a rare penny isn’t over yet.

Last month, a San Diego federal judge ruled that Randall Lawrence and Michael McConnell didn’t prove their claim of ownership over the 1974-D aluminum penny, which they had planned to auction for around $250,000 and donate part of the proceeds to charity.

It was a win for the U.S. government, which says the coin is federal property.

But the two men aren’t giving up. Earlier this month, they filed an amended complaint, explaining in much further detail how the coin came rightfully into their possession — a point that the judge said had not been proven in their earlier court filings.

Hundreds of thousands of 1974 aluminum pennies were made and handed out to U.S. dignitaries in hopes that Congress would replace the copper versions, according to the lawsuit. The idea fizzled. The U.S. Mint melted down its supply and collected others that had been distributed, but many remained unaccounted for, and not surprisingly so, Mint officials wrote back then. The Mint at that time asked the FBI to look into who might still be holding onto the coins, and briefly considered asking Congress to restrike aluminum cents to destroy any collector value for the coins, the lawsuit states.

Lawrence’s father, Harry, came into possession of one upon his impending retirement in 1979 after 20 years of working at the Denver Mint. His retirement gift included a silver coin clock and some of the error coins struck at the Mint, including the aluminum penny in question, the suit says.

Lawrence, who inherited the coin, later sold it to McConnell at the La Jolla Coin Shop. When McConnell realized how valuable the coin was, he notified Lawrence.

To read the complete article, see: Legal fight continues over $250,000 penny (www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/aug/30/aluminum-penny-mint-lawsuit-denver-ruling/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
MAN CAPTURES UNICORN: 1974-D ALUMINUM CENT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n05a11.html)
GOVERNMENT DISPUTES 1974-D ALUMINUM CENT OWNERSHI (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n12a17.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web