A Rare Silver Dollar Is Expected To Fetch Up To $5 Million At Auction

Rare Silver Dollar

Coin collectors have been around since, well probably since mankind first started using coins really. Over the entire course of human history, a few coins stick out as some of the rarest and most valuable. And one such coin is headed to auction on September 30th in New York, and it could sell for up to $5 million dollars.

The coin in question is an extremely rare American silver dollar that can be dated all the way back to 1794. Since it is from that year, it’s not only one of the oldest silver dollars around, but it’s also one of the first ever made. Historians estimate that out of all the 1794 silver dollars that were made, only around 150 or so are still in existence today. Then of those 150, only around three have been preserved in the proper and acceptable manners, this coin being one of them.

However there is more to this coin besides the fact that it is really old. Many historians point towards this year and these coins as the birth of the very concept of the American dollar, so it’s an extremely important coin. This coin represent the starting point of American currency.

Stack’s Bowers is the auction house that is taking charge of the coin, and it is set to head under the chopping block on September 30th. They estimate that it will sell for anywhere between $3 million and $5 million dollars. While those numbers seem absurdly high, they actually aren’t when you compare them to other silver dollars from that era. Back in 2010 another 1794 silver dollar that was kept in better condition was sold for $10 million, and in 1999 yet another fetched for $4.1 million. When you take those numbers into account, that $5 million dollar estimate is not that crazy. Pretty interesting to think that this coin was only worth just $1 dollar at a point in time. At that auction this silver dollar will be sold along side 681 other coins,  have a estimated combined worth of some $200 million dollars. We will have to wait and see if that coin will bring in that much money, but based on history, it probably will.

Photo from Stack’s Bowers

Written by Sebastian Hensiek

From Philadelphia, Sebastian is a fan of music, writing, art, and entertainment.