The first story makes me think twice about throwing a penny away and the second reminds me where some of my money gets squandered with each tankfull I buy that help support a real estate mogul who likely sells land to oil companies for drilling rights.
301 pennies auctioned off for $10.7M
LONG BEACH, Calif. - A penny saved is not necessarily just a penny earned: One man's collection of rare American cents has turned into a $10.7 million auction windfall.
The collection of 301 cents featured some of the rarest and earliest examples of the American penny, including a cent that was minted for two weeks in 1793 but was abandoned because Congress thought Lady Liberty looked frightened.
That coin and a 1794 cent with tiny stars added to prevent counterfeiters each raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auction Galleries, which held the sale in Long Beach on Friday night.
Heritage Auction president Greg Rohan said the auction was the biggest ever for a penny collection, with hundreds of bidders vying for the coins. Presale estimates valued the collection at about $7 million.
"It was a fabulous night," Rohan said. "Every major coin collector of American cents was either there in person, bidding online or on the telephone."
The coins came from the collection of Burbank resident Walter J. Husak, the owner of an aerospace-part manufacturing company. Husak became interested in collecting at age 13, while visiting his grandparents who paid him in old coins for helping with chores.
There were 168 successful bidders, and the auction gallery got 15 percent of the total.
Vanity plate sold for $14 million in UAE
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - A license plate with nothing but the number "1" on it went for a record $14 million at a charity auction Saturday.
Saeed Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family, wouldn't say how many automobiles he owned or which of them might carry the record-breaking single-digit plate.
"I bought it because it's the best number," said Khouri, whose family made its fortune in real estate. "I bought it because I want to be the best in the world."
The oil-rich UAE began auctioning off vanity license plates last May.
Ordinary automobile license plates issued to drivers here — and even most other vanity series plates — carry both Arabic and Western numerals and script, defining the issuing city and country.
Khouri's plate, however, has only the Western numeral and no letters.
The record sale surpassed the $6.8 million that was paid for an Emirati license plate at an earlier auction with the Western number 5 on it — also without Arabic numerals or letters.
Proceeds from the auctions, which are held in a lavish hotel here, go to a rehabilitation center for victims of traffic accidents.
On Saturday, 90 license plates were auctioned off in all, raising a total of $24 million. The previous five such events raised more than $50 million.
And life goes on in the big city. Just like the prices they get for some muscle cars, what can you do?
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07 GT. Exterior mods n/a. Engine mods, see profile.
One of the more powerful cars around.
One of the slower cars around.
Makes me feel like a kid every time.
I am a coin collector myself. I used to try and scower ebay and other various sites looking for rare coins. They were some of the first things that i bought on my own with my own money years ago. Now i am just sitting on my collection. I plan to keep it around for as long as i can then someday auction it off for a nice tidy sum. Among my collection i have Benjamin Franklin 1/2 dollars, Liverty dollars, Peace dollars, "Buffalo" nickels, indian head pennies (oldest one is from 1893), wheat pennies, Silver quarters from pre-1964, Morgan dollars/nickels, Mercury dimes, and many many more.
They are in circulated condition, but hopefully they are in good enough of shape in order to be worth a tidy sum of $$$$ someday.
Amazing what "1" is worth 
