An anonymous coin collector set a new record when he paid $1.7 million for a rare 1943 penny last year. The penny is believed to be the only one of its kind - an experimental cent made out of bronze when the government was running short on copper during World War II. It broke the old record held by another war-time penny from 1944. No word on how the buyer paid for, but using pennies would take a lot of coin(s) - 17 million pennies, which would weigh over 46 tons.
Stacked one on top of each other, they'll be more than 16 miles high. Pennies are increasingly controversial because they are getting expensive to make. Each one of the 3.5 billion pennies minted last year cost 1.8 cents to manufacture, meaning taxpayers took a loss on each one. The government discontinued the half penny more than 150 years ago. And critics say it's time for the penny to go to. But coin collectors and people from Illinois, "The Land of Lincoln", love them. And Zinc companies have lobbied hard to keep the penny. That's because to save money! The Mint switched from using copper to cheaper zinc in 1982, which was also the year with the most pennies minted - 16.7 billion. Now with copper price is up, the mental in those pre-1982 cents is worth well more than a penny. But don't get the ideas: melting it down is illegal. Besides, who knows if you are melting down a fortune?
