2018-01-17 Wed

The 1943 Lincoln bronze has never been offered for sale previously, but recently has been purchased by an East Coast collector for a price in excess of $1 million.

Purchased by a private treaty in 2018, the coin is graded Mint State 63 Red by Professional Coin Grading Service and stickered by Certified Acceptance Corp. with a green label as being superior for the grade.

One of roughly 15 examples known of the wrong planchet error, the coin is now the third example of the error now held in what is being called The Dazzling Red Collection.

The same collector bought a Numismatic Guaranty Corp. MS-63 brown example, also CAC stickered, in Heritage Auctions’ Platinum Night session in conjunction with the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Denver. The coin realized $282,000 in the auction.

Secured by private treaty, the first one of the three purchased for the unnamed collector’s Dazzling Red Collection is an NGC About Uncirculated 50 brown piece.

The collector was represented in the 2017 auction and the 2018 private sale by Bob Paul Rare Coins from Philadelphia.

The collector didn’t wish to be identified and Paul indicated plans are being made to display the MS-63 red 1943 Lincoln bronze cent as part of an extended exhibit at the ANA’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and it will also be exhibited at the 2018 ANA World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia.

The error occurred when leftover planchets from 1942 production got mixed with zinc coated steel cent planchets in 1943.

Fifteen or more examples are believed extant from Philadelphia Mint production struck on planchets of the 1942 95 percent copper composition. A single example is known of a 1943-D Lincoln bronze cent struck at the Denver Mint and seven 1943-S bronze cents are known from the San Francisco Mint.

Paul was representing the collection’s owner in the purchase of a steel 1944 Lincoln steel cent error when the subject of the MS-63 red 1943 coin was broached. A purchase price was negotiated and the deal sealed.

The collector says he believes the wrong planchet error cents are extremely undervalued.