PCGS Co-Founder David Hall (right) holds the 1943-S bronze Lincoln cent graded PCGS Secure Plus MS62BN while Laura Sperber of Legend Numismatics holds another off-metal coin from the Simpson Collection, a 1943-P bronze cent graded PCGS Secure Plus AU58. (Photo by Donn Pearlman.)
Texas Rangers’ Co-Owner Buys $1 Million Penny
Texas Rangers’ Co-Owner Bill Simpson shelled out $1 million this week to purchase a single coin. The coin was a 1943 copper-coated bronze penny, one of the rarest pennies to ever be minted, ABC News reported.
The penny was stamped at the San Francisco Mint, one of only three government mints operating during World War II.
Pennies were made using copper-coated bronze until 1942 when production was halted due to the demand for copper to be used as ammunition in the war. A few copper-coated bronze pennies were accidentally produced in 1943, making them an extremely valuable Mint error.
According to the Huffington Post, it is not the first time that Simpson has spent big on his coin collection. Simpson previously purchased a copper-coated bronze penny for $1.7 million.
Simpson now owns a penny from each of the three mints that operated during World War II.
Professional Coin Grading Service, an organization that evaluates and grades rare coins, certified the penny in question, grading it a 62 on a scale of 1 to 70.
“The Simpson collection now contains the finest known bronze cent from each mint, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver, including the unique 1943-D bronze cent that PCGS certified after Legend acquired and sold to him for a record $1.7 million in 2010,” said PCGS President Don Willis.
Graded PCGS Secure Plus MS62BN, he finest known 1943-S bronze Lincoln cent is now part of the Simpson Collection, the PCGS Set Registry’sSM number one all-time finest collection of Lincoln Cents Off-Metal Strikes, Circulation Strikes 1943 – 1944. (Photo courtesy of PCGS.)
