[wideawake]

Perhaps they are the most valuable. They are valuable because they are so rare.

They are so rare because so few people have been able to steal currency from a US Mint.

Their market value is a reflection of how valuable the reputation that their continued existence compromised is.

Which shows how imperative it is for the US Mint to go to great lengths to maintain its integrity in the face of this theft by one of its own employees.

[Phantom Lord]

I don't think their status as "most valuable coin ever" is questionable. Has any other coin has brought a price even close at auction?

But value aside, would Treasury be so strident if the coins in question were only worth face value? I doubt it.