DailyDirt: Coins Worth More Than Gold
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The US has stopped minting a huge surplus of dollar coins but will continue to make them in just enough quantities to satisfy coin collectors. Interestingly, coin collectors have been bidding on some extremely rare coins lately. Here are just a few examples of some valuable coins out there.- A penny from 1793 sold at a recent auction for $1.38 million. That's the most a US copper coin has ever sold for at an auction. This coin was especially rare because it was never released into circulation. [url]
- Another coin that never made it into circulation was the 1933 Gold Double Eagle -- which was printed but then retracted when US currency left the gold standard. One of them sold at an auction in 2002 for $7.5 million and continues to hold the record for the most ever paid for a gold coin. [url]
- A rare 1787 gold Brasher doubloon just sold for $7.4 million and just missed breaking the record for the value of a gold coin. It's still worth well more than its weight in gold (26.66 grams ~ $1,500). [url]
- To discover more stuff on economics, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: auction, coins, collectors, dollar, doubloon, gold, mint, penny
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
authenticity sells?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Beholders
A good market these days are Chinese antiques like Ming pottery when then Chinese are spending millions to buy them back.
I have books here older than all those coins but age alone does not affect value much unless all rivals vanish. My oldest book is dated 1701 and in Latin.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
If it were 1973... everyone would be looking in their pockets for a few million bucks to auction off.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The demand for coins is rising..
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/01/09/144790896/people-want-more-coins-thats-a-good-sign-f or-the-economy
More demand for coins is good for the economy! :P
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"from the urls-we-dig-up" dept
Next up on Techdirt, the how damn lazy can you be? dept, sponsored by Forever Lazy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No 3D printers in 1933!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
FAIL
Americans make me laugh, but you especially make me glad I'm not American.
Those ridiculous dollar bills and those utterly pointless 1c coins should be gotten rid of entirely.
But noooo... the yanks are too stupid to cope with that. No rounding up/down: too complicated.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: FAIL
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Law of Supply & Demand
http://krugerrandprice.net/gold-eagle-coins-a-sound-investment/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]