Pretty penny: Early 1-cent coin sells for more than $1M

BALTIMORE, MD -- An early trial of America's first 1-cent coin now costs quite a pretty penny - an auction host says one has sold for more than $1 million.

Stack's Bowers Galleries says one of the first 1-cent pieces made in the country went to a rare-coin dealer Thursday night for $1.175 million in Baltimore.

The coin is known as the 1792 Birch cent. It was made as a trial, just months after the 1-cent denomination was first authorized in the young country.

The auction host says the coin that sold is the second-finest of its kind still in existence, and it last sold at auction in 1959.

Other rare coins also sold at the auction, including an 1861 Confederate half dollar for more than $600,000.