A 16-year-old boy in Massachusetts found a rare 1943 Lincoln penny in his lunch money. That was back in 1947 and Don Lutes held on to that penny for nearly 70 years, until his death in September. The “most famous” coin is one of 20 accidentally minted copper coins, whose existence the government denied for years. Now, that one cent coin is going up for auction and could fetch $2 million or more.
What’s special about it? Copper pennies were not supposed to be made that year. Cooper was being reserved for making shell casing, telephone wire and other wartime necessities in World War II. Pennies that year were to be made of zinc coated steel. Well, some copper pennies made it to circulation. Heritage Auctions will auction the coin off, calling it one of the most famous error coin of all times. A similar penny sold for $1 point 7 million in 2010.
