Read the Beforeitsnews.com story here. Advertise at Before It's News here.

By ChasVoice (Reporter)
Contributor profile | More stories

Story Views
Now:
Last hour:
Last 24 hours:
Total:

Collector Says Uncle Sam Has no Right to His Rare 1974 Aluminum Penny

Tuesday, March 18, 2014 11:29

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

By ELIZABETH WARMERDAM

SAN DIEGO (CN) – A man trying to auction off a rare 1974 aluminum penny claims in court that the government has no right to interfere by demanding return of the coin, which it has done.

Randall Lawrence and Michael McConnell used the Department of Treasury and Bureau of the Mint, seeking declaratory judgment that the government’s claim to the penny, which was struck at the Denver Mint, is invalid.

Facing a sharp increase in copper prices in 1973, the U.S. Mint proposed replacing copper pennies with aluminum. Pennies are the only U.S. coin whose metallic value equals or exceeds its face value. Between October 1973 and May 1974, more than 1.5 million aluminum cents were struck at the Philadelphia Mint, the lawsuit states.

Before the coins were released into circulation, they were withdrawn and most were destroyed. The Mint handed out a few of the pennies to members of Congress and other government officials, but the Mint later tried to get all of the cents returned, the complaint states.

Lawrence says that 18 to 21 aluminum pennies from the Philadelphia Mint are unaccounted for. An investigation into the missing 1974 aluminum pennies was closed in 1976, with the government saying that it had found “no evidence of criminal intent” by those in possession of the coins, the complaint states.

One of the 1974 coins was certified by Professional Coin Grading Services as Mint State 62 grade in 2005. Albert P. Toven, a former U.S. Capitol police officer, apparently picked up the penny in the basement of the Rayburn Office Building in Washington, DC in 1974 after a congressman dropped it, the complaint states.

Thinking it was a dime, Toven tried to return it to the congressman, but was told to keep it. Toven then realized it was not a dime, but an aluminum penny. The coin was passed on to his family after Toven died in 1999, the complaint states.

The penny received extensive publicity in the press, yet the government never made any attempt to recover it from the Toven family, the lawsuit states.

Lawrence says that the coin he owns – the one the government is – was stamped at the Denver Mint, where his father, Harry Lawrence, worked for 20 years. Randall Lawrence says he found the coin among other possessions after his father’s death in 1980.

Although Mint officials have stated that there is no evidence that any aluminum cents were struck at the Denver Mint in 1974, a former Denver Mint employee, Benito Martinez, told “Coin World” that he personally struck fewer than a dozen of the pennies as a die setter on aluminum planchets that had been provided by the Philadelphia Mint, the complaint states.

The Denver Mint struck a dozen pennies at most and then sent them to U.S. Mint headquarters in Washington, D.C., the lawsuit states.

The small number and deliberate manner in which each was individually struck and sent directly to Washington further indicates that these were likely created to be presented to members of Congress and government officials, as were the Philadelphia-mint aluminum cents,” Lawrence says in the complaint.

Of the dozen or so aluminum cents rumored to have been minted at Denver, only Lawrence’s coin is known to exist. He wants to sell the penny at auction in April.

The U.S. Mint sent Lawrence a letter in February, “demanding the return of their aluminum cent. The letter stated that the government takes the position that, because Congress never issued an aluminum cent as legal tender, any aluminum cent remains property of the federal government, regardless of how long it has been in private hands,” according to the complaint.

Lawrence denies it. “Thousands of coins minted by or for the U.S. Mint that were never ‘issued’ as legal tender have been widely and publicly collected and purchased and sold by coin collectors and dealers for over a century without any claims whatsoever from the government,” he says in the lawsuit. “These include coins that were actually sold or ‘gifted’ by the Mint itself such as the aluminum cents, as well as coins that left the Mint under unknown circumstances.” MORE

Source:

Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world.

Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.

"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.

Humic & Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex

HerbAnomic’s Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex is a revolutionary New Humic and Fulvic Acid Complex designed to support your body at the cellular level. Our product has been thoroughly tested by an ISO/IEC Certified Lab for toxins and Heavy metals as well as for trace mineral content. We KNOW we have NO lead, arsenic, mercury, aluminum etc. in our Formula. This Humic & Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral complex has high trace levels of naturally occurring Humic and Fulvic Acids as well as high trace levels of Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, Molybdenum, Potassium and more. There is a wide range of up to 70 trace minerals which occur naturally in our Complex at varying levels. We Choose to list the 8 substances which occur in higher trace levels on our supplement panel. We don’t claim a high number of minerals as other Humic and Fulvic Supplements do and leave you to guess which elements you’ll be getting. Order Your Humic Fulvic for Your Family by Clicking on this Link , or the Banner Below.

Our Formula is an exceptional value compared to other Humic Fulvic Minerals because...

It’s OXYGENATED

It Always Tests at 9.5+ pH

Preservative and Chemical Free

Allergen Free

Comes From a Pure, Unpolluted, Organic Source

Is an Excellent Source for Trace Minerals

Is From Whole, Prehisoric Plant Based Origin Material With Ionic Minerals and Constituents

Highly Conductive/Full of Extra Electrons

Is a Full Spectrum Complex

Our Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex has Minerals, Amino Acids, Poly Electrolytes, Phytochemicals, Polyphenols, Bioflavonoids and Trace Vitamins included with the Humic and Fulvic Acid. Our Source material is high in these constituents, where other manufacturers use inferior materials.

Try Our Humic and Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex today. Order Yours Today by Following This Link.

Comments

Online:
Visits:	1,616,291,445
Stories:	8,188,914