Break Open Your Piggy Bank Now, You Might Have A $85,000 Penny

If I were you, I would spend the new few hours breaking open your piggy bank and searching for a penny that is worth an estimated $85,000.

You might be sitting on a fortune and not even know it, but you have to do some searching as many of these rare pennies out there. Not any old penny, but a rare copper penny from 1943.

Back in 1943 the united States was involved in World War II, and copper was at a premium due to the war effort. The US Mint was not allowed to use copper in the production of pennies, instead they used stainless steel. However, the mint made a mistake in one batch of production and copper was used to produce a few pennies made of copper.

Fox6 reports that if you have one, the 1943 penny could be worth:

• Average condition - $60,000
• Mint Condition - $85,000

Warning, there are fakes! If you come across one, give it the magnet test, first. If the penny sticks to the magnet, the penny is copper plated steel, and is NOT worth the big bucks. Also some people created fakes with the 1948 version of the penny. The scammer would file off a portion of the number "8" and make it look like a "3"

More info on how to spot a fake in the video below

Catch Mark Charvat on Q98.5 from 3 p.m to 7 p.m.. Follow him on Twitter, and Facebook.