A ONE-OF-A-KIND glass penny created during World War II to combat a shortage of copper has sold for a whopping £57,000 (US$70,491). The experimental coin was manufactured in 1942 when the U.S. Mint tried out other materials, such as plastic and rubber, so the country’s copper supply could be used for ammunition. But the coins, made from tempered glass, failed because the impressions weren’t precise, the weight and size wasn’t uniform and the coins had sharp edges that cut people’s fingers. It is believed most were destroyed and this one is the only known surviving intact glass penny. One other exists but is broken in half. The coin was discovered and purchased at a small auction in August last year by Roger W. Burdette, author of the book “United States Pattern and Experimental Pieces of World War II.” Burdette has tried to research the coin’s past but has been unable to find out where it has been the last 75 years. It is made of tempered, yellow-amber transparent glass obtained from Corning Glass Company. Burdette said, “Wartime scarcity of copper required the U.S. mint replace copper for the one cent coin. Plastics fabricators, particularly those who made buttons, began to experiment with pieces the size of a cent but the Blue Ridge Glass Company of Kingsport, Tennessee, requested an opportunity to experiment with glass in late 1942. “We know that before doing any of the work, Blue Ridge Glass had some of the employees carry some of the blanks in their pockets for a few days as a test, but the blanks chipped and created sharp edges. I think it would have been tough for the public to accept them as money.” By the time the glass cent tests were completed in December 1942, it was too late for the U.S. Mint to consider them as a viable replacement for the penny. After experimenting the Mint eventually struck cents made of zinc-coated steel in 1943. The rare piece had an estimate of £24,000 but smashed this figure to sell for more than double that — £56,923 — at Heritage Auctions in Florida. (SD-Agencies) | 