At the very dawn of market relations, trying to find the most convenient way to pay for their goods and services, people came up with money. At first it was primitive pebbles, but as soon as humanity discovered metal and learned how to process it, the era of coins began.
An innumerable amount of metal money of various shapes and sizes has been minted in our entire centuries-old history. And hardly then someone could have guessed what value these coins will have after only a few centuries. Of course, the rarest coins cause the greatest interest among numismatists. Despite the fact that in fact they can cost nothing, true collectors lay out whole fortunes for them at auctions. Each coin has its own unique history of origin and circulation, some of them without exaggeration should be called works of art, and this makes them truly priceless.
The most expensive coin in the world
Today there is a certain amount of such coins, the price of which is known all over the world and is measured in millions of American dollars. The first place in the top of such rare pieces is occupied by the dream of every numismatist, the most expensive coin in the world, whose price at the auction organized by the SOTBIS auction house in 2002 reached almost eight million dollars - this is the so-called “Double Eagle”. This coin with a face value of 20 US dollars, made of gold, once served as a sign of wealth, symbolizing peace, freedom and military prowess. On its obverse was a statue of Liberty with a torch in her right hand and representing 13 US colonies of the United States.
The reverse also depicted giving the coin the name of an eagle with spread wings, carrying a bunch of arrows and an olive branch, surrounded by the number of states that were then part of the United States, 46 stars. The most expensive coin was issued in the world from 1842 to 1933, however, then, during the Great Depression, the U.S. government abandons the gold standard and decides to withdraw them from circulation in order to be re-melted into gold bullion. Less than two dozen Double Eagles have survived around the world, all of them are considered the property of the United States Treasury and only one, the most expensive coin in the world, is in a private collection.
Other equally significant instances of ancient coins
By right, the honorable second place is occupied by the silver US dollar, dated 1804. An interesting feature of this coin is that it was practically issued in 1834 by order of the US government for gift sets of coins in circulation at that time. And either by the mistake of the workers, or for some other reason, the date indicated on the coin read: "1804". This is the year in which, of course, it was not yet. This instance is of great interest to collectors, according to numismatists, the acquisition of such a dollar gives the immortality of their priceless collection. In 2008, one of these
silver coins was sold for an amount in excess of three and a half million dollars. Then comes the Berbera Dime, sold in 2007 for $ 1,900,000. The one-dollar silver coin “Sitting Freedom” was last valued at $ 1,300,000. 1 penny of Australia, minted in 1930 by the Melbourne
Mint in just 6 copies, was sold in 2005 for more than $ 517,000. And although this is not the most expensive coin in the world, its advantage is that it is the most valuable coin in Australia.