A Tain antique dealer has expressed his anticipation after a potentially rare 1933 penny arrived at his shop.
Marcus Salter, who lives locally and runs the shop Cheeky Highlander, is waiting for the coin to be authenticated.
His friend entered his shop one day with a coin that he found while looking through his collection.
It appeared to be a 1933 penny.
If legitimate, the rare coin could be worth more than £200,000.
Mr Salter agreed to help with authenticating the coin, and he then sent images of it to the Royal Mint museum.
He was invited to bring the coin to the museum in Wales for analysis and he will now receive the results tomorrow but will reveal the news on his podcast.
Mr Salter said: “The last coin sold for £125,000.
“So it’s a bit like Willy Wonka’s golden ticket.”
Why is the penny so rare?
In 1933, the banks had so many pennies that it was not necessary to strike any more for general circulation that year.
But, a convention at the time meant that complete sets of coins of the current year were buried under the foundation stones of new important buildings.
Therefore, three 1933 pennies were struck for buildings erected that year along with a small number that were kept as records.
No record was kept at the time of how many pennies dated 1933 were made but it is thought to be no more than six or seven.
It is believed one of the coins might have got into circulation.
If this is authenticated to be real, then Marcus says it is likely to be the coin that got into circulation when it wasn’t supposed to.
Antique shop owner Marcus said: “It’s a very rare coin for a very odd reason.
“All boys and girls of a certain age who grew up collecting coins know the 1933 penny is the rare one we all look for.
“We’d all be diving through grandparents change collections.
“Anytime you go into an antique shop, they’ve always got a bowl full of coins.
“And you’d go through that looking to see if the elusive 1933 penny is there.”
His friend, a coin dealer, entered his antique shop last month with the 1933 penny – and said he forgot about it and found it while organising his collection.
Marcus said: “He had that feeling of anticipation and uncertainty so he didn’t just throw it away.
“I offered to get it authenticated.”
They then sent photos to the Royal Mint Museum, and were invited down to Wales for the coin to be analysed.
Coin doesn’t fit two normal types of forgeries
When Marcus was at the museum, it was explained to him that there were two usual types of forgeries.
The museum sees about 12 coins a year.
One forgery is where someone has a 1935 penny but attempts to alter the coin. Those who have done this aren’t invited to the museum as it’s visible from the photograph.
The other forgery is where the coin looks legitimate, but when someone touches it, it doesn’t feel right.
However, their coin didn’t fit into either category.
Shop owner would be ‘overwhelmed’ if Tain 1933 penny is real
“We’re trying not to get excited,” Marcus added.
“We’re still very resigned to the fact that it’s likely to be a fake.
“I’d be absolutely overwhelmed if it was real.
“And I’d be delighted for the chap who owns it.
“He’s such an amazing gentleman who has made a huge impact. He’s the whole reason I got into antiques.
“If anyone was ever going to find it, it would be nice for it to be someone who has devoted their life to something like this.”
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