After buying some food and receiving his change in the form of an old coin, a high school student in the United States could never have imagined that he was holding one of the most legendary error coins in American history—an item later worth millions of dollars at auction. This coin was the 1943 Lincoln Cent, now regarded as the most famous minting error in American numismatics.

The student, Don Lutes Jr. of Massachusetts, received the coin entirely by chance. At first glance it looked like an ordinary penny, but numismatists would later confirm that it was anything but ordinary.

According to Heritage Auctions, a Dallas-based auction house, the coin was accidentally produced in 1943 due to a rare and unexpected mishap at the U.S. Mint. Near the end of 1942, a small amount of copper scrap from discarded jewelry was mistakenly dumped into the mobile hopper that supplied blank planchets to the coin-pressing machines. As a result, these copper pieces were struck into coins, producing a tiny number of 1943 Lincoln cents made of copper instead of the wartime steel used that year.

Millions of steel cents were manufactured in 1943 as part of the U.S. war effort, making any copper version from that year exceptionally rare. Only a handful are known to exist today. Because of this rarity, the 1943 copper Lincoln cent is now described by the auction house as “the most famous error coin in American numismatics.”

At present, bidding for Lutes’s coin has already reached $170,000, though experts believe the final selling price could soar much higher. History supports that expectation: in 2010, another 1943 copper cent—struck on a copper planchet—sold for an astonishing $1.7 million, setting a benchmark in the coin-collecting world. These dramatic valuations have cemented the coin’s reputation as one of the most coveted collectible coins of all time.

Tragically, according to several reports, Don Lutes Jr. passed away in September, never witnessing the full financial impact of the remarkable coin he once kept as a curiosity from his youth. Yet his find remains one of the great stories of accidental discovery in American collecting culture.

The 1943 copper cent is not the only ancient coin to command breathtaking sums. Around the world, numerous rare coins have captured the attention of collectors and investors alike, often breaking auction records.

One notable example is a 19th-century rarity, the 1804 Draped Bust Dollar, which was previously purchased for $2.6 million, or more than 59 billion VND, by a Virginia Beach coin dealer and his partner. The coin features the striking image of a woman in a partially bare-chested draped bust design, a distinguished portrait known among collectors.

Although marked with the date 1804, the coin was actually struck in 1834, following an order by President Andrew Jackson. He directed the U.S. Mint to produce a limited number of special coins intended as diplomatic gifts for foreign dignitaries and royalty. The incredibly small production run, combined with its historical significance, makes the Draped Bust Dollar extraordinarily valuable.

What elevates its worth even further is its extreme rarity—only eight known examples exist worldwide. For collectors, such scarcity transforms the coin from a mere artifact into a near-mythical treasure, highlighting how a single object can encapsulate history, artistry, and immense value.