A buyer paid $2 million for an 1894 dime, one of only nine of its kind thought to exist today, at a Tampa auction Thursday, taking home a piece of coin-collecting history.
The extremely rare 1894-S dime was made at the
San Francisco Mint, The Associated Press reported, but tough economic conditions meant only 24 were minted and just nine are thought to still be around today.
"There's a couple of iconic rarities in the rare coin market," David Hall, co-founder of Professional Coin Grading Service of Santa Ana, California, told the AP. "A couple of coins have been known among the rarest of the rare for 100 years and this is one of those numismatic icons."
Hall told the news service that the coin was in "spectacular condition, almost perfect."
The winner, a collector who chose to remain anonymous, paid $1,997,500 to the seller, who also chose to keep his or her name out of the spotlight, AP said.
The auction was
held by Heritage Auctions as part of the
annual January FUN Show 2016, held by the Florida United Numismatists. Billed as the "bellwether" event on the calendar for coin collections, the show features the Heritage Auctions, which continue through the weekend, and more than 1,500 dealers, according to its website.
Heritage Auctions would like to see more of the 1894-S dimes discovered, and has offered $10,000 to be the first to scope out any "previously unreported, genuine examples of the coins," the AP reported.
"They could be in somebody's desk drawer. They could be sitting in somebody's bank box. People could look almost anywhere and they might show up," Mark Borckardt, senior numismatist at Heritage Auctions, told the wire service.
A silver dollar from 1794 broke records in 2013 when it
sold for $10,016,875, KOTA TV reported.
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