Million dollar Lincoln error stuns hobby

A million dollar Lincoln cent?

Coin dealer Bob Paul posted late yesterday on the Coin Dealers Helping Coin Dealers (CDHCD) Facebook page from the Florida United Numismatists convention that he has brokered the sale of a bronze 1943 cent for more than that figure.

The coin is grading MS-63 Red by the Professional Coin Grading Service.

Congratulations, naturally, are being posted.

Paul Nugget wrote, “Congratulations my man ! Can’t wait to read about it.”

Former American Numismtic Association president Jeff Garrett wrote, “Wow – that is a mind boggling coin!! Can’t wait to see the coin in person. Amazing.”

My sentiments exactly.

Who would not want to see the rare error?

Regular 1943 Lincoln cents were made out of steel.

The coin that just sold is a spectacular error.

Regular steel cents were nicknamed silver pennies by the public.

People did not like the World War II expedient because it was easy to confuse a silver-colored cent with a dime.

Bruce Walker in his Facebook comment did the math and wrote, “100 million times face value!”

That is true.

It is quite a return on face value even after 75 years.

It would make my late father’s accountant heart flutter.

It should make every collector’s heart flutter, too, because it is a Lincoln cent.

A huge number of collectors have cut their teeth on Lincoln cents. I did.

We are emotionally attached to it.

Seeing something sell for over a million dollars that we ourselves might have found in circulation years ago makes us feel that we are a part of it in a small way.

We share in the pleasure of the incredible value of the rarity.

Congratulations to Bob Paul.

Congratulations to the buyer.

John Feigenbaum probably says it as simply as possible: “Wow!”

I agree. Don’t you?

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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