Avid coin collectors jumped at the chance to get their hands on a rare “double eagle” gold coin at a Southern California auction house. On Tuesday, the $20 gold piece minted in Carson City, Nevada, in 1870, sold for $1.44 million including the buyer’s premium, a fee paid to the Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
This photo provided by Stack’s Bowers Galleries shows a rare $20 double eagle gold coin from 1870, which sold for $1,440,000 at an auction Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Costa Mesa, Calif. This photo provided by Stack’s Bowers Galleries shows a rare $20 double eagle gold coin from 1870, which sold for $1,440,000 at an auction Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Costa Mesa, Calif.
The gold piece — minted in Carson City, Nevada, in 1870 — sold for $1.44 million including the buyer’s premium, a fee paid to the Stack’s Bowers Galleries. Only 3,789 of them were produced and an estimated 40 to 50 remain, according to John Kraljevich, who specializes in coin history at the auction house.Prior to 1849, the highest denomination for a gold coin was $10, known as the eagle.
By the time the live auction reached the coin, the bid price had already reached $800,850, far outpacing the other coins in the catalogue. It was sold from the Bernard Richards collection and is the finest grade coin of its type known to exist, according to the industry standard Professional Coin Grading Service. However, it fell short of the auction’s prediction that it would break the $2 million barrier.
The second finest coin was sold in an auction for $1.62 million in November 2021. The price of collector’s coins went up substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people turned to investing in their hobbies, Kraljevich said.
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Rare California Gold Rush coin fetches $1.44 million at auctionLaura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.
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