A rare "double eagle" coin was recently sold at an auction in California for over $1 million. Enthusiastic coin collectors eagerly vied for the rare $20 "double eagle" gold coin during the auction on Tuesday. The 1870 $20 gold coin, minted in Carson City, Nevada, fetched $1.
44 million at auction, including the buyer's premium paid to Stack's Bowers Galleries. With only 3,789 originally produced, experts estimate that just 40 to 50 of these rare coins still exist, according to John Kraljevich, a coin historian with the auction house. The auction house did not disclose the identity of the buyer who purchased the coin.
The "Double Eagle" Coin Before 1849, the largest denomination for a gold coin was the $10 eagle. The $20 double eagle was introduced following the California Gold Rush, which significantly boosted the nation's gold supply, explained Kraljevich to The Associated Press (AP). This particular coin last changed hands at a Stack's auction in 1986, selling for $23,100.
"This thing was totally off everybody's radar," Kraljevich said. "When this thing appeared kind of out of the woodwork after being off the market for 25 years, 30 years, it was almost like a new discovery." When the $20 double eagle hit the auction block, bidding had already soared to $800,850, surpassing all other items in the catalog.
The coin, part of the Bernard Richards collection, is the highest-graded example of its kind, according to the Professional Coin Grading Service. Despite its rarity, the fi.