An extremely rare 1974-D aluminum penny, valued at US$2 million (RM8.1 million) was handed over to the US federal government, settling a two-year-old court battle over the coin’s rightful owner. In 2014, the auction for the 1974-D penny has been cancelled because US Federal government want it back.
The 1974-D Aluminum Lincoln Cent coin owned by California rare coin dealer Michael McConnell, owner of the La Jolla Coin Shop. McConnell purchased it in September 2013 from realtor Randy Lawrence who inherited the coin decades ago from his late father, Harry Edmond Lawrence who served as Deputy Superintendent of the Denver Mint.
The Mint cited the fact they never authorized an aluminum one-cent piece to be struck in Denver as proof of ownership.
In the early 1970s, copper prices spiked and it became more expensive to make a single penny than it was worth. The U.S. Mint began to experiment with other metals, and the Philadelphia Mint ended up pressing 1.5 million aluminum cents.
But the silver-colored coins were never put into circulation, as authorities learned they didn’t work in vending machines and didn’t show up in x-rays if swallowed. So the Mint melted the pennies down.
Dr. Alan Goldman, the former interim mint director who served as the head of the aluminum cent project, speculates the 1974-D aluminum penny was most likely part of a very limited unofficial run, and that Lawrence received one of them at some point.
"I knew Harry Lawrence very well and he was a straight shooter. He would not have engineered this," Goldman said. "I probably visited the Denver Mint during the 11 years I was there maybe 10 times a year. I'd go to Denver, to San Francisco just to make sure everything was happening there was supposed to be happening."
Lawrence and McConnell reached a settlement once they discovered the coin was not part of an official mint production and the penny was the only one known in existence. They will return the coin to the U.S. Mint to be put on display.
"I know my father would be pleased that others will get to see and enjoy this rare piece in the U.S. Mint collection for years to come," said Lawrence about his father, who retired from the Mint in 1979.
Source: NBC San Diego; San Diego Union Tribune
