A gold coin from 1933 that is only worth $20 at face value has been sold for $18.9million at auction.
The ultra-rare double eagle coin was one of the last ever to made for circulation in the US, almost almost a century ago. The coin, however, was never introduced into America’s currency and almost all of them like it were returned to the government and melted down shortly after being struck.
Only a handful of them survived being destroyed and only one of them is allowed to be owned legally, making it a one-of-a-kind collectors item.
As such, it became the world’s most expensive coin on Tuesday when it sold for almost $19million at Sotherby’s auction house in New York city.
The coin was sold by shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, reports CNN, and features Liberty on one side and an eagle in flight on the other.
It’s the only one of it’s kind that can be legally owned following a 1944 investigation by the Secret Service which declared that any of them found in collectors’ hands would be considered stolen.
But this particular one, however, can be legally possessed by a private individual, following a legal battle between the United States Treasury and a former owner. The sale marks the second time it has broken the auction record for a coin, having also done so in 2002, when it fetched $7.6million.
The coin was one of three highly-valuable items put up for sale by Weitzman with the other two being a stamp from a former British colony and a sheet of US postage stamps printed with a unique error.
The items sold for $8.3million and $4.9million respectively.
Speaking about the sales, global head of books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, Richard Austin, said: ‘Today’s sale marked a historic moment in the history of stamp and coin collecting – and one that I think will not be surpassed for a long time, if ever.’
Collector, Weitzman, meanwhile said in a press release that it had ‘been an honor to be a custodian of these three legendary treasures’.
He said: ‘I started coin collecting to pass the time in a full leg cast at the age of 12, and later became interested in stamps when my older brother left behind the stamp book he’d started when he went to college.
‘The passion for collecting took root immediately, and today truly marked the culmination of a life’s work.’
He added that the proceeds from the sale will ‘help support a number of charitable causes and educational endeavors that are near and dear to me’.
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