A penny worth $800, other stolen coins auctioned off in Gurnee
With an hour left to go, the high bid on a rare 1909 penny stood at $805. A 1798 silver dollar was going for $655.
They were among more than 500 rare coins, pins, currency and other items - unclaimed property recovered from a recent burglary bust - being auctioned off Saturday by the Gurnee Police Department.
The sale was held at Harbor Coin, a Gurnee store that was twice victimized by the burglars. The man responsible, considered to be "one of Chicagoland's most prolific safe crackers," is now behind bars, serving a 20-year sentence.
The coin auction was expected to gross between $8,000 and $10,000, minus a $500 fee being paid to Harbor Coin, said co-owner and numismatist Andrew Timmons.
Gurnee Police intend to use the proceeds, as well as those from other sales of items seized, to pay for department-related capital needs. Roughly $200,000 in recovered stolen property was returned to its owners.
More than 50 collectors came into the coin store Saturday to peruse the auction items. Everything was neatly hung in individually wrapped packages on a peg board, some with written explanations. Potential bidders looked up information in reference books, while others eyed the coins closely with a magnifying glass.
"It's pretty special," said Gurnee resident and coin collector Edward Montalvo, as he shopped. "There are quite a few coins here that you wouldn't normally see."
That includes a rare 1916 mercury dime, an 1877 Indian cent, and a large key stolen from a guard at Menard Correctional Center and smuggled out by a former prisoner.
The break-ins happened four years ago. The burglars broke into the vacant business next door and climbed across the ceiling to access the coin shop. Timmons still has a clip of his store's security video, showing the burglars breaking into the safe and leaving with a bag holding more than $200,000 worth of coins.
"It's still upsetting," Timmons said Saturday. "I'm so grateful to Gurnee Police, especially Detective Jeremy Gaughan, for catching them. I'm glad we're able to help the police now."