Rare 1793 Penny fetches more than $1 million at Florida auction
January 9th, 2012 - 11:03 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattFlorida, Jan 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A rare coin has been bought for more than 10 million times its value during an auction. The 1793 penny may be one of the first batches of coins minted by the United States. It was sold for more than $1 million during an auction.
United States came up with its own coins for the first time in 1793 but controversy kicked in shortly. The use of the linking rings was intended to symbolize the solidarity between the original 13 colonies that made up the federation. However anti-slavery campaigners complained that the symbol represented slavery so it was changed to a wreath.
The coin was bought at the Florida United Numismatists convention by an unidentified buyer. The auctioneers said the buyer was a major collector of coins. Louis E Eliasberg, Sr. who is considered one of the biggest collectors of coins in history is known to have one of the coins.
The auction house said that, “Mr Eliasberg was nicknamed “the king of coins” because before his death in 1976 he assembled a collection that consisted of at least one example of every coin ever made at the United States Mint, a feat never duplicated.”
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Tags: 1 million, 10 million, auction house, auctioneers, batches, campaigners, coins in history, controversy, florida united numismatists, king of coins, million times, original 13 colonies, rare coin, slavery, solidarity, united states mint, wreath