FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – Faced with a copper shortage at the beginning of World War II, the U.S. Mint authorized experiments to make pennies from other metals, plastic and rubber.
A Tennessee company made some from glass and failed so spectacularly that only one known unbroken penny remains – and it is scheduled to be auctioned Thursday. Another broken piece is also known to exist.
The Fort Lauderdale-based Heritage Auctions will conduct in-person and online bidding for the coin that it hopes will exceed $30,000.
The coin is owned by Roger Burdette, who wrote a book about World War II experimental coins and purchased the piece during a small online auction last summer “for several thousand dollars.” He declined to be more specific.
“I knew pretty well what it was from the illustrations, but I couldn’t be sure without examining it and that wasn’t a possibility without buying it,” Burdette said Tuesday. “These things have been so poorly documented.”