Rare Lincoln penny sold for more than $200,000

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Back in 1947, a Pittsfield teenager found one of the rarest coins in circulation in his lunch change.

When he was 16-years-old, Don Lutes Jr. found a 1943 Lincoln Penny, one of the few examples made in copper, without ever knowing it could have been one of the most valuable coins of all time.

On Thursday night, the rare bronze coin sold for more than $200,000 at a Florida auction.

The Lincoln Penny was made at a time when the U.S. mint was supposed to only be producing zinc-coated steel to save copper for the war effort. Only a handful of the copper ones were minted.

Lutes Jr. kept the penny up until his death last year, despite being told it was a fake and worth nothing.

Lutes died in September. He directed all proceeds from the sale to be donated to the Berkshire Athenaeum at the public library in Pittsfield.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Cox Media Group