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The E-Sylum: Volume 22, Number 2, January 13, 2019, Article 28

MEDIA COVERAGE OF LUTES 1943 COPPER CENT

Remember the Don Lutes discovery specimen of the 1943 bronze cent we discussed last year? It was sold by Heritage this week for $204,000. It got a lot of coverage in the popular press. Here's a post-sale report from Fortune magazine. -Editor

Lutes 1943 bronze cent obverse Lutes 1943 bronze cent reverse

What’s a penny worth?

In this case, a rare penny, expected to fetch about $170,000 at auction this week, brought in a little over $200,000.

The 1943 copper penny was minted in Philadelphia and is one of an estimated 10 to 15 in existence. Heritage Auctions spokesman Eric Bradley tells Fortune that the coins are rare because they weren’t made of zinc-coated steel, as were others at the time.

Tom Caldwell, of Concord, Mass. was the top bidder of the Philadelphia penny. He says he plans to display it at various coin shows around the country. The money raised from the sale will go to the Pittsfield Public Library, where Don Lutes, Jr., the original owner of the coin, was a patron until his death last September.

Lutes received the penny in 1947 as change for his school lunch. Intrigued, he asked the U.S. Treasury if it had made any copper pennies in 1943 and was told no. He kept the coin anyway.

The only thing I ever got from my school cafeteria was heartburn. See the earlier E-Sylum articles for more background on the coin. What a great gesture to donate the proceeds to a library.

Congratulations to Tom Caldwell and Northeast Numismatics for the acquisition. Visit their table at coin shows this year and check it out. -Editor

To read the complete article, see:
Ultra-Rare Penny Sells for $204,000 at Auction (http://fortune.com/2019/01/11/ultra-rare-penny-auction/)

Here are some other versions of the story. Dick Hanscom forwarded one from the Daily Mail. Thanks. -Editor

To read the complete articles, see:
Fetching a pretty penny: Rare copper penny Army veteran found in his lunch money in 1947 sells for more than $200K at auction - after claims it would sell for eight times that (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6581223/Rare-penny-sells-200K-auction.html)
Rare coin found in teenager’s pocket change could fetch a pretty penny at auction (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/09/rare-coin-found-pocket-change-could-sell-six-figures/2530599002/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
MORE BREEN AND TAXAY AUTHENTICATION CERTIFICATES (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n28a12.html)
BEARDLESS BREEN ON RADIO WITH 1943 BRONZE CENT (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n30a08.html)
DISCOVERY SPECIMEN 1943 BRONZE CENT GRADED (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n33a16.html)

HLRC E-Sylum ad06 Buying



Wayne Homren, Editor

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The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

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