A “26-cent” U.S. coin sold for nearly $17,000 at an auction on Sunday.
That is not a misprint. It is, however, a misstrike -- a Lincoln penny was struck on top of a quarter, creating the odd piece of coinage.
GreatCollections, a California-based numismatic auction house, sold the rare error coin for $16,962.50.
The company said that in 2000, a Lincoln cent design was struck over an already minted New Hampshire Statehood quarter, creating the double-denomination error.
“Instead of receiving the cent design on a standard copper-plated zinc planchet, the coin press impressed Lincoln cent dies onto the larger, previously struck quarter,” the auction listing notes. “The result preserves overlapping elements from both denominations: Lincoln and cent inscriptions compete with remnants of the New Hampshire quarter’s designs, producing a visually complex coin with a face value that collectors whimsically total as 26 cents.”
Professional Coin Grading Service certified the coin with a grade of MS-65. According to the grading service, the designation means the coin is “an above average strike with minor marks or hairlines, mostly out of focal areas.”
The New Hampshire statehood coin, released in August 2000, is part of a series of releases for each state.
The U.S. 50 State Quarters Program was issued from 1999 through 2008, with five different quarter designs released each year, according to the U.S. Mint.
There were 44 bids placed on the coin. The winning bid includes a buyer’s premium of 12.5% -- or 10% if paid by check, eCheck or wire, according to the auction listing.
“This is a spectacular example of how an unusual sequence inside the U.S. Mint can transform two familiar coins into one extraordinary numismatic rarity,” GreatCollection wrote in its auction listing.
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