Posted on 10/01/2020 7:38:48 PM PDT by simpson96
A perfectly-preserved silver dollar, which set a new world record for coin sales when it auctioned for $10,016,875 in 2013, is back on the market, and experts believe it might fetch even more this time! The rare "Flowing Hair" coin, which features a portrait of Lady Liberty on one side and an eagle on the other, will be sold to the highest bidder by Legend Auctions on October 8, 2020, at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
"This is a dream coin--a priceless artifact that I have been proud to own, and I'm very sorry to see it go," coin collector Bruce Morelan told CNN.
The iconic silver dollar's history can be traced back to the Coinage Act of 1792, which established the US Mint, under the Department of the Treasury, to produce coins for the newly independent nation.(snip)
The inaugural batch of 1,758 Flowing Hair silver dollars, which were all struck in a single day in October 1794, was not meant for general distribution. Instead, the US Mint director David Rittenhouse gifted the sparkling coins to high-ranking officials to keep as souvenirs.
"They were distributed to congressmen, visiting VIPs from other nations, and other important American citizens at the time," Douglas Mudd, the curator and director of the American Numismatic Association's Money Museum, told CNN. "It was basically more of a PR marketing event. This was the first dollar, and they wanted to make as much of a splash as they could."
With only about 100 of the first round of Flowing Hair silver dollars left in circulation, the rare coins are extremely coveted by collectors. However, the one owned by Bruce Morelan is even more so. given that experts believe it was among the first — if not the first — coin ever produced by the US Mint.
(Excerpt) Read more at dogonews.com ...
Impressive!
No denomination - more like a medal.
That is very cool!
That’s how they were designed.
The value is on the edge. Hundred Cents or One Dollar Unit.
Incredible quality.
Of course, one hopes that for 10mil, it will be. ;)
Who is The Babe?
Note to self: Figure out time travel and go back to 1794.
Interesting the six pointed stars. Some of the early flags had stars of that type. I wonder when five points became standard and if it was a formal standardization or just kind of organically happened.
The establishment took care of themselves even then.
Lady Liberty
“Money is weighed. Fiction is counted.”
I have to question the choice of words here. If there were 100 coins in circulation that would mean that people are using them to buy gum or chotchkies at the dollar store. I think the author should have meant that there were only about 100 of then left in existence.
One wonders what happened to the 1,650 or so that are no longer accounted for ?
That is not perfectly preserved! But oh well.
It’s as perfect as a 230yo coin should be expected.
That’s OK. Technically yes, they could be in actual circulation and are legal tender.
Circulation doesn’t distinguish between usage and collectors, I don’t believe.
Indeed, most of those coins actually could be “in circulation”....they have just not been identified as collector pieces yet.
I ran across an accountant’s handbook from 1838 and was astounded to see a foreign coinage conversion chart in the back. Evidently until about the 1840s, a lot of foreign money was being used in day to day transactions, after that, it was banned.
Get your own here:
https://www.collectorscorner.com/Category/Category.aspx?catId=736&pId=2
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