Rare penny sells for $1 million 26 (UPI) -- The co-chairman of the Texas Rangers paid a New Jersey dealership $1 million for a rare penny mistakenly made from the wrong materials, the dealer says. Bob Simpson purchased the rare coin, a 1943 penny mistakenly made from bronze instead of zinc-coated steel at the San Francisco Mint, from Legend Numismatics in Lincroft after the Professional Coin Grading rated it a 62 out of 70, ABC News reported Wednesday. The coin grading service said the U.S. Mint switched from bronze planchets to zinc-coated steel in 1943 due to the need for copper in the war effort. By error, some bronze planchets made it into the hoppers at all three mints, were struck and released into circulation. These have become the most famous and valuable of all off-metal errors," PCGS said in a release. However, the coin sale falls short of a national record. A dime from 1873 sold for $1.84 million at an August auction.