Hey New Jersey, You May Be Holding a Penny Worth $300,000

You might want to check those pennies next time, before putting them in the slot machine.  You may have already hit the jackpot.

Through the years, my friends and I had a habit of collecting wheat pennies.  That may now pay off.

All pennies have a profile of Abraham Lincoln.  The back has had a few variations through the years.  Most had the Lincoln Memorial and most recently, pennies have a picture of the Union Shield.

In 1943, during World War II, there was a shortage of copper.  To deal with this situation, the US government produced pennies made of a special metallic compound developed specifically for this purpose.

The silver pennies were only produced in 1943.  The government went back to copper this next year.

They're kind of cool to find, but billions of them were produced that year, and they're not worth much.

So many pennies were produced, and there were bound to be errors.

A small number of copper pennies were produced in 1943.  These are considered some of the rarest coins in circulation.

Today, there are only 27 1943 copper wheat pennies known to exist, however, that doesn't mean there aren't more sitting in a coffee can in someone's closet.

How much are these rare pennies worth?  According to Coinweek.com, a public sale of one such coin brought in a cool $329,000.

One warning, there are fakes out there.  Genuine copper pennies weigh just over 3 grams.

Start going through your coins now!

Learn more about coin collecting at Coinweek.com.

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