The first US penny is 233 years old and was sold
for nearly $1.2 million Thursday night at an auction in Baltimore.
The coin, known as the "Birch Cent," was
made in 1792, months after the one-cent denomination was first authorized by
Congress, according to the auction house Stack's Bowers Galleries.
It was made in a trial run for the penny, and
depicts Lady Liberty. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington discussed the
design in letters dated August 1792, before it was presented to Congress as an
option for the new coin.
Today, there are only 10 of these coins in
existence, as far as collectors know. But it's possible that more were made at
the time, according to Stack's Bowers.
This penny had not been sold at auction since 1959.
Stack's Bowers declined to release the winning bidder's name.
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