NEW YORK — A rare Canadian penny is raking in the bids even before going up on the auction block.

The coin bearing the image of King George V has already garnered US$160,000 in online bids ahead of a public auction in New York City next week.

Heritage Auctions of Dallas expects the coin to sell for US$300,000 or more when bidding ends on Sunday.

The company's director of world coin auctions says the cent is the finest of only three known 1936-dated pennies made by the Royal Mint with a small dot below the date.

The mint placed the dots on the coins as it experimented with making currency in 1937 that still carried the date of the year before.

This was done because King George's successor had abdicated the throne, leaving the mint without a monarch's face to grace the coins.

The Canadian penny and other dot coins will be part of a multi-million dollar auction of rare coins from around the world.