Learning what the most valuable coins are can be instrumental in helping you better understand the coin market trends and planning a budget. It also helps to know what these expensive rare coins are so when it comes time to buy or sell them, you have a rough idea as to what you should expect to pay for them – or earn from them, if you sell any of these coins. So, whether you collect coins for numismatic purposes or are investing in coins with the intention of making money, it is well worth taking the time to read these articles.
As is the case with any coin prices, the quotes listed here for the most valuable coins do fluctuate – an issue that particularly seems to effect gold coins, given the relatively large swings in the gold bullion market that happen from time to time. In the case of rare U.S. coins with numismatic appeal, major market fluctuations are far less frequent, but can and do happen.
Watch all new episodes of Pawn Stars, Mondays at 10/9c, and stay up to date on all of your favorite History Channel shows at https://history.com/scheduleCA-C. Wikimedia Commons Price Realized: $3,865,750 Date Sold: March 31, 2017 Sold By: Stack’s Bowers Galleries and Sotheby's Once again the 'King of American Coins' takes one of the top 10 spots on the list of The World's Rarest and Most Valuable Coins.This coin was auctioned as part of the D. Brent Pogue coin.
Take, for example, the situation that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when market speculation drove prices for high-grade, certified Walking Liberty half dollars, Morgan dollars, and other numismatic coins to all-time highs; following a market collapse in the summer of 1989, prices were pushed back down to lows that in many cases had not been seen in several years. Some of these coins still have not fully returned to their 1989 highs. Of course, market adjustments on the order of those that occurred during the period between the late 1980s and early 1990s are significant, headlining events that don’t usually occur, especially in the case of non-bullion related coin material.
Still, prevailing market trends among the most valuable coins may help you determine where the market for a certain issue, or even an entire series, may be heading. Such can be the case when examining the prices of Lincoln cents between 2005 and 2013. Ahead of the series’ bicentennial in 2009, Lincoln cent values enjoyed a generally upward trend. Rare issues, such as the 1909-S V.D.B. cent, 1914-D cent, and 1922 no-D cent escalated to new highs. Even more common issues saw increasing prices. A recession occurred around the same time interest in the Lincoln cent series seemed to back off somewhat following the passage of the series bicentennial, and prices for several issues softened. As of 2014, Lincoln cent values appear to have stabilized, thanks to rebuilding interest from a numismatic community that appears to be recovering from the economic recession.
To help you better understand what the market is like for rare U.S. coins, we have provided you with a list of the Top 25 most valuable coins for each of the major U.S. coin denominations. It is our hope that you will find these comprehensive coin price guides helpful and educational in your collecting and investing ventures.
Money is something that we use to quantify the value of something. Each note or coin has a face value which is clearly shown, and this is the global system that is applied so that people can exchange money for products in the purchasing process. However, there are some coins that become significantly more valuable than their face value denotes. This is usually because they are extremely rare or very old. They may have been part of a limited production of a particular coin or be one of only a few remaining examples of a coin from a specific era in history. If this is the case, the coin becomes highly collectible and collectors are willing to pay huge sums of money to own the rare coins. Here are five of the most valuable coins that have been sold at auction and it may surprise you to learn how much someone was willing to pay to own such a small metallic object.
It is the age of this coin that makes it as valuable as it is and is why someone was willing to pay $6.8 million for one at auction. When you consider that this coin has been around for more than 670 years, it is a wonder that any have survived. Just think about how many coins are lost from circulation over the years because people have dropped them down the drain or lost them down the back of the sofa. There are now only three known examples of an Edward III florin in existence. Therefore, it is one of the rarest of all the coins in the world.
A Wall Street investment firm paid $7.4 million for a Brasher doubloon at auction. The coin was designed by Ephraim Brasher, who was a talented goldsmith. He wanted New York State to start minting coins using his design in copper. However, the state disagreed and said that they did not want coins made from copper. Brasher went ahead with his design anyway but minted most of the coins in bronze. He made just a few of 22-carat gold and it is these that are now so valuable.
This is another coin that has sold at auction for $7.6 million. The coin was originally designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Unfortunately, this design was extremely complicated and it posed a problem as to how the United States Mint could produce such a coin. To simplify the design for commercial production, the Mint’s chief engraver, Charles Barber, decided to make some modifications to the original design. He removed the phrase ‘In God We Trust’ from the design of the coin. Congress were not pleased with this modification so, although it was produced, only a limited number were made. For this reason, the coin is now extremely rare and valuable.
This coin has become so valuable because of a circumstantial quirk. This gold coin was pressed in 1933. However, the coin was never released into circulation. This was because President Franklin D. Roosevelt had banned everyone from owning gold in the same year. He did this as part of an attempt to bring the banking crisis to an end as the country’s financial situation was causing devastating problems in the United States at that time. Despite them never being officially released, twenty of these coins slipped through the net and these coins now have a staggering value.
If only every dollar in your pocket was worth $10 million. Unfortunately, there is just one dollar in the world that has achieved this value at auction. You are probably wondering what makes this dollar so special compared to the dollars that are currently in circulation. Well, the highest valued dollar of all-time was the first dollar ever issued by the United States Federal Government. The coin dates back to either 1974 or 1975 and is made of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper. When this coin was minted, it was the first issued after the Federal Mint was founded. It is famous for depicting an image of Liberty with her flowing tresses. One of these coins was sold for $10 million in January 2013.