Florida couple earn pretty penny from sale of rare coin
Michigan
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Nowadays, pennies aren't even worth the metal they're made with. A rare few, however, can fetch 600 million times their worth.
Denis Loring and Donna Levin, of Singer Island, reaped a windfall from a copper 1792 penny the couple bought last year at a Beverly Hills auction for $437,000.
Two months ago, the penny sold for a whopping $660,000 to "an East Coast energy company executive" who wished to remain anonymous, said Greg Rohan, president of Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, which arranged the transaction. The couple took home $600,000. Heritage made a $60,000 commission.
The coin had originally been owned by descendants of Oliver Wolcott, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Connecticut's governor in the 1790s.
The chocolate-colored rare coin, one of only nine known to exist, bears the date 1792, the inscription "Parent of Science & Indust: Liberty," and the likeness of a woman's head representing "Miss Liberty."
"As silly as it sounds, coins like this, you don't really ever own. You get to be a custodian," Loring said Friday. "It was here long before I was here, and it will be here long after I'm gone."
He said the new owner has a "multimillion-dollar coin collection."
Levin, Loring's wife, said her husband had been trying for years to get her interested in coin collecting.
"He kept pushing me to find a series of coins that I thought would be neat to collect," she said. "I thought, 'Why don't I pick something that is so arcane that we won't ever be able to find the coins to fill a collection.' Never in a million years did I think we'd actually find something. But when it came up for auction, Denis said we had to get it."
Having now convinced her husband that she was a coin collector like him, the couple was ready to pass it on to another owner, but not just to anyone.
"When I sold my first car, I didn't sell it for the highest offer because I wanted to make sure it had a good home," Levin said. "The same with the coin. I wanted to make sure it did not just go to some random person who looked at it as a little trophy and didn't care about it.
"And I actually got my husband to believe that I was a collector, briefly."
Denis Loring and Donna Levin, of Singer Island, reaped a windfall from a copper 1792 penny the couple bought last year at a Beverly Hills auction for $437,000.
Two months ago, the penny sold for a whopping $660,000 to "an East Coast energy company executive" who wished to remain anonymous, said Greg Rohan, president of Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, which arranged the transaction. The couple took home $600,000. Heritage made a $60,000 commission.
The coin had originally been owned by descendants of Oliver Wolcott, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Connecticut's governor in the 1790s.
The chocolate-colored rare coin, one of only nine known to exist, bears the date 1792, the inscription "Parent of Science & Indust: Liberty," and the likeness of a woman's head representing "Miss Liberty."
"As silly as it sounds, coins like this, you don't really ever own. You get to be a custodian," Loring said Friday. "It was here long before I was here, and it will be here long after I'm gone."
He said the new owner has a "multimillion-dollar coin collection."
Levin, Loring's wife, said her husband had been trying for years to get her interested in coin collecting.
"He kept pushing me to find a series of coins that I thought would be neat to collect," she said. "I thought, 'Why don't I pick something that is so arcane that we won't ever be able to find the coins to fill a collection.' Never in a million years did I think we'd actually find something. But when it came up for auction, Denis said we had to get it."
Having now convinced her husband that she was a coin collector like him, the couple was ready to pass it on to another owner, but not just to anyone.
"When I sold my first car, I didn't sell it for the highest offer because I wanted to make sure it had a good home," Levin said. "The same with the coin. I wanted to make sure it did not just go to some random person who looked at it as a little trophy and didn't care about it.
"And I actually got my husband to believe that I was a collector, briefly."
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Comments
Couple makes $ 163,000 by putting up $ 437,000
Heritage makes $ 60,000 by putting up the coin....
Of course, it is not like you can take that to a show and have tons of people clamoring to pay 600K for it.
siliconvalleycoins.com
Hell, A person could have bought some raw acreage in my neck of the woods and made that much money (or more) in about two six months time. I did!
Tyler
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Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
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<< <i>600 million times? Someone should bone up on his math. >>
But what do you expect from a journalist?
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
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So they buy a coin worth more than some people's home just so she can become a collector?
Then they sell it 1 year later and have the gall to say they did not what to sell it to just anyone? But someone who would give it a good home?
I will bet they did not make their money because of intelligence.
Buying top quality Seated Dimes in Gem BU and Proof.
Buying great coins - monster eye appeal only.
They made their money because of their intelligence.
Betts medals, colonial coins, US Mint medals, foreign coins found in early America, and other numismatic Americana
BTW, that was the piece that came from a Rochester, N.Y. family which had kept it in a coffee can for many years as a family keepsake.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
roadrunner
BTW, that story was a news item on the radio in Connecticut today, which I found unusual. Perhaps the "east coast collector" lives in Conn, or they thought it was of interest because of Wolcott.
David
Someone needs to bone up on their research.
A rare few, however, can fetch 600 million times their worth.
Someone needs to bone up on their math.
<< <i>unmarried? >>
Not the last I heard; Donna was an attorney with a speciality in divorce....
She gave a talk on coin assets/divorce, etc. at an ANA show some years back.
Seems like Heritage is the smart one of the group
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<< <i>That is a fairly steep commission for that expensive of a coin...
It's actually a pretty reasonable commission on that coin. Has little to do with the cost.
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
This journalist is an idiot...Does he mean to say that they would not have sold it to someone else for more money? Don't think so....The sale may have been for $600,000 and a buyer fee of $60,000 added---i cannot tell the arrangement from the article...Was this an auction or just an arranged sale?
Heritage has sent me letters saying there is no sellers fee for items bringing over a certain amount that you purchase from them. 10 % is not a high fee at all -i would be happy to pay a 10% fee when i sell anything..That's business. What is a "good home" for a coin?
Also 600 million times their "worth"? It sold for what it was worth. Face value is a different story.
Heritage makes $ 60,000 by putting up the coin.
Heritage makes $60,000 by finding it a "good home" and not just anyone.
As silly as it sounds, coins like this, you don't really ever own. You get to be a custodian," Loring said Friday
Isn't this true about every coin? Everything for that matter?