Stefan Proynov: We will call this coin the Denver Million Dollar Error because the coin is extremely rare minted with a wheat grade on the reverse and marked “D” – Mint in “DENVER”. The coin was discovered in 2022, which is 100 years after its creation.
ONE OF A KIND DISCOVERY COIN, PCGS CERTIFIED ERROR COIN/1920 D Penny. Stefan Proynov: We have often said that coins speak and each may have its own story, but the more expensive and rare coins have more interesting stories, perhaps some are made up, others are truth, others are interpretations, and fourth are fruit to the imagination of the traders to create a more piquant history of their coin.
Coins with a story are usually somehow more memorable, more impactful to both readers and buyers, and this remains a proven marketing strategy in numismatics and the antiques business. Often, however, traders who are in the market know that making history takes years for a coin to reach the market and tell its story to be remembered by the general public.
Stefan Proynov: So what is the history of this cent from 1920?
Historical Significance…. All 1920 Columbia 2c coins are important to both the United States and Colombia. …most of all WHY WERE THE COLOMBIAN COINS MADE? This is the only 1920 Denver error of this type, and these centavos may have been produced to help improve our relations with Colombia after Teddy Roosevelt’s invasion of the rebellion and partition of Panama two decades earlier. The result was one of man’s greatest achievements… The Panama Canal…
The treaty that finally repaired our relations with Colombia was signed in 1921 when Denver stopped producing the two centavos. SAME TYPE OF ERROR AS THE FAMOUS 1943 bronze penny that sold for $1.7 million.
Stefan Proynov: We will increasingly witness such coins being sold for huge sums, because in themselves they are unique when produced in single copies. I myself have dedicated a lot of my time to research on this subject and I dare to say that the most expensive coins sold worldwide are precisely mint errors, especially when there is a history to them. Naturally, the highest-selling and most sought-after coins will remain those with the smallest mintages and the highest collector quality, but somehow coin errors overlap these horizons as we witness that there is no week in which somewhere, some auction house does not offer such, we are witnesses and that more and more often the certification companies publish such coins, which is a kind of prestige game and a hint of where the world numismatic community is going.
Stefan Proynov Mint Error coins consultant for Europe
