Almost five decades back, the only famous 1974-D Lincoln experimental cent struck in aluminum in the Denver Mint was returned into the U.S. Mint.
Since its recurrence in 2016, the experimental cent was saved at a Mint vault.
U.S. Mint spokeswoman Carolyn Fields advised Coin World Jan. 4 the agency plans to incorporate the experimental part from the public galleries in the Denver Mint after the place is remodeled.
The general public tour region of the Denver Mint is closed and has been since March 16, 2020, due to COVID-19 security precautions.
Fields said the agency doesn’t have plans to move the experimental cent for inclusion in the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.
The U.S. Mint’s archival records don’t contain any documentation noting that the creation of experimental Lincoln pennies in aluminum in the Denver Mint.
Cent surfaces
The elder Lawrence passed away a few months later and his resources, which comprised the experimental part, were moved to his son.
Randall Lawrence found the coin once he transferred into the San Diego, California, area from Colorado. Randall Lawrence took the experimental cent along with other coins his dad had gathered through time, to numismatist Michael McConnell in LaJolla Coin Shop.
McConnell bought the coins, for instance, experimental piece in Lawrence. Following McConnell’s research determined the rarity of this aluminum cent, the choice had been forced to consign the experimental part to public auction, together with Lawrence and McConnell to split the net profits.
The experimental part was scheduled for general public sale by Heritage Auctions in its April 2014 Signature sale, in combination with the Central States Numismatic Society’s spring tradition.
By the time the aluminum cent’s presence was publicly revealed in 2013, U.S. Mint officials put the wheels in motion to lawfully find the coin’s yield.
Heritage Auctions pulled cent out of its April 2014 sale while discussions were entertained to place the cent back from the control of government police.
An agreement was then reached for McConnell and Randall Lawrence to reunite the aluminum cent to U.S. Mint officials to steer clear of the item possibly being captured.
Included in this agreement settling possession claims, McConnell managed to keep the PCGS grading fit for the piece in front of a contingent of U.S. Mint officials, such as Mint authorities, took ownership of their 1974-D aluminum cent.
U.S. Mint officials reported to Coin World at December 2013 that agency records provided no confirmation which experimental pennies in aluminum were approved for manufacturing in the Denver Mint.
Coin World interviewed Denver Mint worker Benito Martinez who had been involved at the aluminum cent generation at Denver.
Throughout the course of litigation leading to the yield of this experimental piece into the Mint, a December 2015 residue from Dr. Alan Goldman — the U.S. Mint official that was placed in control of compositional options to the aluminum metal for the penny — signaled the Denver Mint experimental cent generation wasn’t licensed, but also confessed that Harry Lawrence wasn’t a part of or agreeing to the obvious outputsignal, which the Mint employee had recounted as a dozen or fewer bits.
The Philadelphia Mint made lots of 1974 Lincoln pennies on aluminum planchets made at the Denver Mint from aluminum strip sent in the Philadelphia Mint.
