Rare and historical US gold coin sells for whopping Rs 138 crore, becomes the most expensive coin in the world

A rare US gold coin, which was initially meant to be a $20 coin (Rs 1400), was sold for a staggering $18.9m (Rs 138 crore) in New York on Tuesday, June 9. The coin has exceeded both its previous price of $7.6m set in 2002, and its pre-sale estimate of $10m to $15m. It also smashed the record for the most expensive coin in the world, set by a 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar that sold for $10 million in 2013.

The 1933 Double Eagle was the last gold coin in America that was intended for country-wide circulation. However, the coin was never issued after Franklin D. Roosevelt removed America from the gold standard.

The coin is the only example to have been “legally sanctioned” for private ownership by the US Government.

Auction house Sotheby’s wrote on their Instagram page, “Meet the “Holy Grail of Coins” further adding, “Earlier this morning in our #NewYork saleroom the fabled and elusive 1933 Double Eagle Coin shattered the auction record for the world’s most valuable coin, achieving an astonishing $18.9 million – nearly double the previous record. Four bidders chased the legendary coin, which is the only example that is legally sanctioned by the United States government for private ownership.”

Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts, in a post-sale statement, said, “Today’s sale marked a historic moment in the history of stamp and coin collecting, and one that I think will not be surpassed for a long time, if ever.”