Rare coins are known to command hefty sums, but one obscure piece outshines them all. The ‘Double Eagle’, seemingly worth a mere £15.80 ($20), proved its true value at a 2021 auction.
This 1933 coin fetched an astonishing £13,334,400 ($18,872,250) at Sotheby’s in New York, earning its title of the most expensive coin ever sold, according to the Guinness World Records. But what makes this coin so extraordinary?
Despite a reported 445,500 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles being minted in 1933, they were never circulated as currency. This was largely due to financial crises sparked by the Great Depression.
When President Franklin D Roosevelt took office that same year, he made it illegal for people to keep gold, including coins like the Double Eagle. Experts assert these coins were never issued and were instead melted down into gold bars. Only two were spared legally by the Government but over a dozen others also managed to avoid destruction.
“Perhaps the rarest and most valuable gold coin in the world is the 1933 Double Eagle,” explains dealers at The Britannia Coin Company. “The allure of this extremely scarce gold coin is because of its inextricable link to US President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 6102.
“.Although 445,500 specimens were struck by the Philadelphia Mint, they were never officially issued by the US Treasury. Subsequently, they were ordered to be melted down with only two coins to be spared. Naturally, a few coins escaped the melting pot.”
Of the two that were saved, one was donated to the National Numismatic Collection, while the other remained in a private collection until 2002 before being auctioned off, as per MJ Hughes Coins. It is believed that around 20 others were stolen, but the majority of these were later retrieved by the US Secret Service.
To this day, it remains illegal to possess a 1933 Double Eagle coin in the US, with the exception of just one. The nation’s Mint recovered 10 in 2005 and reiterated their illegality.
The former US Mint Acting Director David Lebryk said at the time: “These Double Eagles were never lawfully issued, but instead, were taken from the United States Mint at Philadelphia in an unlawful manner more than 70 years ago. They are, and always have been, public property belonging to the United States.”
Although it is therefore unlikely you will strike it rich with a 1933 Double Eagle, there are other legal coins that can command a high price. For instance, another rare 1933 coin from Britain recently fetched a staggering £140,000 at auction.
Speaking to the Star, Chris Yang, co-founder of Coins Value, said: “Remember, the thrill of coin collecting isn’t always about striking gold; it’s about connecting with history and uncovering hidden treasures. Your old coin jar might hold more than just spare change – it could be a portal to a fascinating past.”