Kicker: A penny saved

MARY REICHARD, HOST: A penny saved, a penny earned, right?

How about a penny saved, $200,000 earned?

Back in 1947, teenager Don Lutes paid for his school lunch and saved the change he got back.

An untrained eye wouldn’t have seen the difference.

One of the pennies was unusual. This was just after World War II, when it was crucially important to save bronze and copper to make up for metal shortages. Pennies were to be cast in steel. But 10 to 15 accidentally got minted in bronze in 1943.

Lute’s attempt to authenticate the coin failed, so he just kept it in his collection for seventy years.

Well, Lutes’s penny sold Thursday at a Florida auction house for more than $200,000.

Lutes died in September.

He had directed the proceeds of sale go to the public library in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Fox News)

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