An extremely rare 1974-D aluminum penny — with what turns out to be one heck of an origin story — was handed over to the federal government Thursday for public display, settling a two-year-old court battle over the coin’s rightful owner.

Real estate agent Randy Lawrence, who had unknowingly kept the treasure in a sandwich baggie for decades, and La Jolla Coin Shop owner Michael McConnell had planned to auction the coin for at least $250,000 and had fought off the U.S. Mint’s efforts to seize the penny.

But a key deposition a few months ago, indicating the penny was never part of an authorized pressing and might have been struck as a practical joke at the Denver Mint, made them change their minds.

“It belongs back in their hands,” Lawrence said, hours before the handoff.


But all is not lost, as Lawrence and McConnell see it. Through the legal fight, the origins of the penny have emerged.

“We’ve added to the history, the legacy, of this coin,” McConnell said. “At least we know more about this story.”

In the early 1970s, copper prices spiked and it became more expensive to make a single penny than it was worth. The U.S. Mint began to experiment with other metals, and the Philadelphia Mint ended up pressing 1.5 million aluminum cents.

But the silver-colored coins were never put into circulation, as authorities learned they didn’t work in vending machines and didn’t show up in x-rays if swallowed. So the Mint melted the pennies down.


This rare 1974-D penny made from aluminum was originally owned by Harry Lawrence (man in photo) until his death and later by his son Randy Lawrence who inherited his father’s coin collection. The rare coin was returned back to the U.S. Treasury Department. (Nelvin C. Cepeda)

Around that time, Lawrence’s father, Harry, was deputy superintendent of the Denver Mint. Lawrence claims that as part of his retirement gift, his father was given a 1974-D aluminum penny, the “D” signaling it was pressed in Denver. But there was no official record of authorization to strike such pennies there.

In his deposition, Alan Goldman, former interim Mint director who headed the aluminum cent project at the time, speculated that the Denver penny might have been made as part of a practical joke, and even has a suspect in mind.

That person, whose name has not been released, is now deceased, as is Lawrence’s father, and the complete story of the penny may have gone with them.


“I knew Harry Lawrence very well and he was a straight shooter,” Goldman said in his deposition. “He would not have engineered this.”

In any event, Lawrence’s father apparently thought the penny was worth more in sentimental value than dollar value and never told his family about it.

Randy Lawrence inherited this rare 1974-D penny made from aluminum. The rare penny was returned back to the U.S. Treasury Department Thursday afternoon. (Nelvin C. Cepeda)

For decades after his father’s 1980 death, the coin sat in a baggie in Lawrence’s desk drawer along with other out-of-state coins. When he moved his family from the Denver area to San Diego in late 2013, he was introducing himself as a real estate agent to La Jolla businesses along Girard Avenue when he stepped into the La Jolla Coin Shop. A while later he brought in his father’s coin collection, which he’d been hauling around in the trunk of his car, ready to part with the inheritance.


At first glance, McConnell thought the aluminum penny was made by a foreign mint, and valued it at $300. But then he began to suspect it was what it was. He paid $2,000 to have it authenticated and certified, then contacted Lawrence with the surprising news of its rarity.

“This is the most unique coin, the most exciting and interesting coin we’ve ever handled,” McConnell said.

The men, who became fast friends, struck a deal to publicly auction the penny and donate $100,000 of the proceeds to Funders Together to End Homelessness, a group of philanthropists and grant makers McConnell belongs to.

The pair said they could have tried to sell the coin privately and quietly, and it may have gone for a couple million dollars.


“You never know the value of these coins,” McConnell said. “It’s a one of a kind. The value is in the eye of the person who wants it.”

But taking the coin public felt like the right thing to do.

In 2014, the Mint claimed its right to the coin, arguing it was clandestinely struck and federal government property that was unlawfully removed. The men responded by suing the government.

On Thursday, the case was resolved when the men delivered the coin to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in downtown San Diego.


Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Price said authorities have never found any evidence that the penny was given as a retirement gift to Harry Lawrence.

“There are no free samples working at the Mint. (It) doesn’t entitle someone to take government property or pass it down to their heirs,” Price said.

What happens to the penny now, and whether it will end up in Denver, Washington, D.C., or elsewhere, remains to be determined.

“We look forward to displaying the coin appropriately as an important Mint heritage asset,” Rhett Jeppson, U.S. Mint principal deputy director, said in a statement. “This agreement is not only good for the integrity of the coin-collecting hobby but for the integrity of the government property and rule of law.”


The 1974 aluminum pennies are not to be confused with 1943 steel pennies, made during World War II, when copper was needed for shell casings. The Mint pressed and put into circulation some 900 million steel pennies, although over time many were collected by the Mint and melted down.