Friday, April 15, 2011

A Penny For My Debts?

A couple of years ago, I read a brief article about a penny that sold for over $100,000.  It was a steel penny, minted during WWII, when copper was needed for other things.  As I read the article, I remembered a penny I found, a couple of decades before, on a Scout camping trip.  Since I still have boxes of personal things at my parents' house, I tried to find it, to no avail.

These last couple of months, though, my Mom has been remodeling the house, using some of the money she received from life insurance; in the process of remodeling, some of my things were uncovered.  Thus, at my last visit, I was finally able to find that brown card file box where I kept that penny!  At last:  if my penny was worth anything, it can be used to pay down debt!

Alas, a little bit of research showed that my penny only worth about three cents to collectors.  The most expensive pennies have a special copper sheen, being the first pennies minted after the decision to use steel; to be really valuable, of course, it would have to be in mint condition.  My penny certainly doesn't have that sheen, and it unfortunately isn't in mint condition, either.

On the plus side, I get to keep my penny--which is good, because I like it.  It's made of steel, and is attracted to magnets.  How cool is that?!?