What?? A 1943S copper Lincoln penny goes for $2025???

Yes, you read that right. Here is the U.S. Sun column:

One of the rarest Lincoln pennies in existence sells for $2,025 online

And I've made a screenshot of the eBay listing, just in case:

If you know eBay, you know that a 95.5% positive feedback is quite low. It's certainly nothing new that crooks try to make a quick buck on eBay, or else that a seller posts a fake but doesn't know it (I have myself contacted an honest seller recently about some forgeries of stamps he thought genuine), but the U.S. Sun not being suspicious about a coin worth half a million dollars going for $2025?? A serious enquiry would have included a consultation with an expert to understand what's going on, what “uncertified” actually means, why the description says “Copper?” (with the question mark), etc., etc.

Camerinvs

…but the U.S. Sun not being suspicious about a coin worth half a million dollars going for $2025?? 

You would have thought the line According to USA Coin Book, the coin is worth $246,227 in average condition and up to $579,631 in uncirculated grades in their same article (meaning they did some research) would have tipped them off?

Copper plating zinc or steel is the easiest thing in the world to do.  Imagine the buyer's surprise when they put a magnet to it $2025 for a $0.60 coin.

rsirian1

You would have thought the line According to USA Coin Book, the coin is worth $246,227 in average condition and up to $579,631 in uncirculated grades in their same article (meaning they did some research) would have tipped them off?

Yes, exactly. If you're any kind of journalist, you stop and think for five seconds… 

Camerinvs

rsirian1

You would have thought the line According to USA Coin Book, the coin is worth $246,227 in average condition and up to $579,631 in uncirculated grades in their same article (meaning they did some research) would have tipped them off?

Yes, exactly. If you're any kind of journalist, you stop and think for five seconds… 

I would not use “journalist” and U.S. Sun in the same discussion 😉 

tdziemia

Yes, exactly. If you're any kind of journalist, you stop and think for five seconds… 

I would not use “journalist” and U.S. Sun in the same discussion 😉 

True ✔️. Yet I kind of watered it down to “any kind of journalist”… 

Perhaps the bidders are banking on the “chance” it's legitimate (as insanely remote as it is).  If it's magnetic, they'll just get their money back from eBay since the listing specifically described it as non-magnetic.

I checked the bidding history just now. 

There were 17 bids for 7 bidders. Up to when it reached US $400, there were 5 bidders with feedback varying between 8 and 40 times, except one at 96 times, so rather new or inexperienced bidders.

And then, two more bidders, with feedback of 127 (finished second with max bid of $2000) and 561 (the winner for $2025; max bid unknown since he could have put $10,000 or a lot more).

It's a little strange that the more experienced bidders were the ones who were more easily fooled by this… unless they contacted the seller and then one doesn't know.

If it had sold for a lot more, then one possibility is money laundering, one guy acting as the “seller”, the other as the “buyer”…

EDIT ─ I just checked the seller's most recent sales (32 items): laptops and other computer devices, fishing gear, a sword of some sort, and a good number of low value US coins. He described his 1943-S copper just so that he wouldn't be accused of trying to pass a fake as authentic. The guy knows enough about coins to know at least that something's fishy when he himself purchased this MS-63 1943-S copper… In this condition, it's not something someone found in his/her change, nor at the back of a drawer (there would be uneven toning).