Most Expensive Coin
Money is something that we use to quantify the value of something. Each note or coin has a face value which is clearly shown, and this is the global system that is applied so that people can exchange money for products in the purchasing process. However, there are some coins that become significantly more valuable than their face value denotes. This is usually because they are extremely rare or very old. They may have been part of a limited production of a particular coin or be one of only a few remaining examples of a coin from a specific era in history. If this is the case, the coin becomes highly collectible and collectors are willing to pay huge sums of money to own the rare coins. Here are five of the most valuable coins that have been sold at auction and it may surprise you to learn how much someone was willing to pay to own such a small metallic object.
The most expensive coin in the world is the 1794/5 Flowing Hair Silver/Copper Dollar. Several expert Numismatic researchers believe that this was the very first silver coin to be minted and issued by the U.S Federal Government. This list of top 10 most expensive coins in the world. The coin Flowing Hair Dollar tops this list after it was sold for $7.85 million. This was an emotional loss for coin collector IRVINE but also a financial gain. Other coins which are also given an exceptionally high value. 1907 Rolled Edge Eagle – $2,185,000. Smart News Keeping you current The World’s Most Expensive Coin Is Up for Sale Expected to fetch upward of $10 million, the 1794 Flowing Hair dollar was one of the first coins struck by the newly. Our most valuable pennies list includes coins starting in 1856 up to the present (2021) - including rare penny errors and rare varieties that could still actually be found in pocket change. This list and the prices are current as of 2021. Estimated coin prices and values in our database are updated twice per year.
5. Edward III Florin 1343 – $6.8 Million
It is the age of this coin that makes it as valuable as it is and is why someone was willing to pay $6.8 million for one at auction. When you consider that this coin has been around for more than 670 years, it is a wonder that any have survived. Just think about how many coins are lost from circulation over the years because people have dropped them down the drain or lost them down the back of the sofa. There are now only three known examples of an Edward III florin in existence. Therefore, it is one of the rarest of all the coins in the world.
4. The Brasher Doubloon 1787 – $7.4 Million
A Wall Street investment firm paid $7.4 million for a Brasher doubloon at auction. The coin was designed by Ephraim Brasher, who was a talented goldsmith. He wanted New York State to start minting coins using his design in copper. However, the state disagreed and said that they did not want coins made from copper. Brasher went ahead with his design anyway but minted most of the coins in bronze. He made just a few of 22-carat gold and it is these that are now so valuable.
3. The Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle 1907 – $7.6 Million
Most Expensive Coin In The World
This is another coin that has sold at auction for $7.6 million. The coin was originally designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Unfortunately, this design was extremely complicated and it posed a problem as to how the United States Mint could produce such a coin. To simplify the design for commercial production, the Mint’s chief engraver, Charles Barber, decided to make some modifications to the original design. He removed the phrase ‘In God We Trust’ from the design of the coin. Congress were not pleased with this modification so, although it was produced, only a limited number were made. For this reason, the coin is now extremely rare and valuable.
2. The Double Eagle 1933 – $7.6 Million
This coin has become so valuable because of a circumstantial quirk. This gold coin was pressed in 1933. However, the coin was never released into circulation. This was because President Franklin D. Roosevelt had banned everyone from owning gold in the same year. He did this as part of an attempt to bring the banking crisis to an end as the country’s financial situation was causing devastating problems in the United States at that time. Despite them never being officially released, twenty of these coins slipped through the net and these coins now have a staggering value.
1. The Flowing Hair Silver/ Copper Dollar 1794/5 – $10 million
If only every dollar in your pocket was worth $10 million. Unfortunately, there is just one dollar in the world that has achieved this value at auction. You are probably wondering what makes this dollar so special compared to the dollars that are currently in circulation. Well, the highest valued dollar of all-time was the first dollar ever issued by the United States Federal Government. The coin dates back to either 1974 or 1975 and is made of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper. When this coin was minted, it was the first issued after the Federal Mint was founded. It is famous for depicting an image of Liberty with her flowing tresses. One of these coins was sold for $10 million in January 2013.
The most valuable coin in the world is set to go on auction in Las Vegas—and experts say it could fetch upward of $10 million, reports Ken Ritter for the Associated Press.
Most Expensive Coin Sold
Dated to 1794, the rare silver dollar is thought to be one of the first, if not the very first, coins minted in the newly independent United States of America.
“This coin is the Holy Grail of all dollars,” Laura Sperber, president of Legend Numismatics, which is conducting the October 8 sale, tells David P. Willis of the Asbury Park Press.
Las Vegas resident Bruce Morelan purchased the coin, known to collectors as a “Flowing Hair” silver dollar, for $10,016,875 in 2013. The sale marked the highest price ever paid at auction for a single coin.
“Coins are in my blood, and the 1794 dollar was a lifelong dream,” says Morelan in a statement. “Now that my early American dollars collection is complete and nothing else can be added, I’ve decided it’s time for other collectors to enjoy these magnificent coins.”
Douglas Mudd, director of the Colorado-based American Numismatic Association’s Money Museum, tells the AP that the coin is one of just 300 surviving specimens from a cache of 1,758 silver dollars struck in a single day—October 15, 1794—at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. Around 100 of these dollars remain in circulation among collectors.
Several characteristics point to the Flowing Hair dollar’s identity as the very first coin minted in the U.S. In addition to displaying a silver plug used to adjust its weight, explains Steve Roach for Coin World, the coin “was struck with obvious care from the earliest state of the dies for the 1,758 1794 dollars issued.”
As the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History—which houses one of the rare coins in its collections—notes, Mint Director David Rittenhouse distributed the newly struck silver dollars to dignitaries as souvenirs.
“The reason for producing these was to say, ‘We can do this. Let’s get them out to senators, congressmen, and other VIPs, to show them the Mint is moving forward,’” Mudd tells Atlas Obscura’s Isaac Schultz. “1794 is the year they say, ‘We’ll start the dollar coin, the linchpin of the system.’ Because our system is built on the dollar, and then multiples of the dollar, and then fractions of the dollar.”
Prior to the creation of the U.S. Mint, a mixture of bartering, colonial currency and foreign money drove the economy. At the time, few people made a dollar in a day, according to Atlas Obscura, so in 1804, the bureau decided to stop producing silver dollars. The next major dollar coin, dubbed the Seated Liberty, only entered circulation in 1840.
Per the AP, the 1794 coin was reportedly presented to then-Secretary of State Edmund Jennings Randolph, who referred to it in a letter addressed to George Washington.
Professional coin graders score collectibles’ quality on a 70-point scale. A perfect score denotes a coin with no discernable defects at five times magnification. The Flowing Hair silver dollar scores a 66 on this scale, making it a “specimen,” or “proof-quality” coin, above mint condition. Comparatively, another 1794 silver dollar graded at just 35 sold in 2019 for $288,000.
As the Asbury Park Press notes, the upcoming auction will feature a total of 15 silver dollars minted between 1794 and 1804. The entire collection is expected to fetch between $15 and $18 million, but Atlas Obscura reports that if the asking prices for the coins aren’t met, they will remain in private collections.