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January 28, 2022
Las Vegas Man Sells USA's First Silver Dollar for $12 Million to GreatCollections
- California buyer sets record for the world’s most valuable silver coin and the second-highest price ever paid for any rare coin.
Photo: Believed by many rare coin researchers to be the first silver dollar struck by the United States Mint, this 1794-dated dollar has been purchased for a record $12 million by GreatCollections Coin Auctions of Irvine, California from Las Vegas, Nevada collector Bruce Morelan. Image credit: GreatCollections Coin Auctions.
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 28, 2022 — A Las Vegas, Nevada resident has sold his prized possession, a superb condition silver dollar made in 1794. Many rare coin experts believe it is the first silver dollar ever struck by the United States Mint. It has been purchased for a record $12 million by GreatCollections Coin Auctions of Irvine, California.
- George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson may have seen it.
Vegas business executive Bruce Morelan paid $10,016,875 for the acclaimed rare coin in 2013, a record at the time, and exhibited it across the country and in Europe. One of the coin’s previous owners was Amon G. Carter Sr. (1879-1955) of Texas, a former Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper publisher.
Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections, said, “Because of its sharpness of detail, researchers believe this coin was especially struck, perhaps as a presentation of the country’s first dollar coin. President George Washington, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, and then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who oversaw the young United States Mint, may have seen this coin because of its significance. Without question, this is America’s most coveted silver dollar, a national numismatic treasure. It gave me chills closing the transaction for this piece of history.”
Intended to help replace Spanish, English, Dutch, and French coins commonly in circulation in the USA’s post-Colonial era, the United States Mint delivered a total of 1,758 silver dollars made in Philadelphia on a hand-turned coining press to government officials in October 1794.
“Only about 140 still survive, and this 1794 silver dollar is the only known specimen-striking, substantially better than the examples in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Numismatic Collection and the American Numismatic Association museum,” said Russell.
The front of the dollar depicts 1794 with a symbolic female representation of liberty and the word LIBERTY. The design on the back is an eagle surrounded by a wreath and the words, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Experts authenticated the coin at Professional Coin Grading Service and designated it as a specially-made specimen strike. They graded it as a great, mint state 66 on the numismatic grading scale of 1 to 70. John Albanese, founder of Certified Acceptance Corporation in Far Hills, New Jersey, negotiated the sale transaction with GreatCollections on behalf of Morelan.
Morelan, 60, began collecting at the age of six. “Coins are in my blood, and the 1794 dollar was a lifelong dream,” he stated. “I’m truly blessed to have owned it and hope the new owner has as much joy, pride, and satisfaction as I did.”
“This 1794 silver dollar was the world’s most valuable rare coin for nearly a decade after Morelan purchased it for $10 million in 2013. At its latest sale price of $12 million, it is the world’s most valuable silver coin and now the second most valuable rare coin of any kind. Last year’s $18.9 million sales of the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle (U.S. $20 denomination) gold coin set the new record,” explained Russell. He exhibited that gold piece at the 2021 Chicago World’s Fair of Money on behalf of its anonymous new owner.
GreatCollections is an auction house for certified coins and banknotes, handling both private transactions and public auctions from start to finish. Since its founding in 2010, GreatCollections has successfully auctioned over 995,000 certified coins, making it one of the leading accredited coin companies in the United States, with annual sales in 2021 exceeding $235 million.
Source: GreatCollections
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 2:16 PM | Link to this Post
