US gold coin sells for record $18.87 mn at Sotheby's auction

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


US gold coin sells for record $18.87 mn at Sotheby's auction
In this file photo taken on March 11, 2021 A Sotheby’s employee holds a 1933 Double Eagle Coin during the "Three Treasures – Collected by Stuart Weitzman," a dedicated live auction, of three treasures from the personal collection of the fashion designer and collector. The US coin sold for record $19.5 mn at Sotheby's auction on June 8, 2021. The "Double Eagle" was minted in 1933 and breaks 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. Angela Weiss / AFP.



NEW YORK (AFP).- A 1933 US gold coin that was never issued after Franklin D. Roosevelt removed America from the gold standard sold for a record $18.87 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York Tuesday.

The auction house described the 1933 Double Eagle, the last US gold coin made and intended for circulation, as "one of the most coveted coins in the world" and it didn't disappoint.

The $20 coin, designed by the American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sailed past its pre-sale estimate price of between $10 million and $15 million.

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 Double Eagle has an image of Lady Liberty on one side and an American eagle on the other.

The 1933 Double Eagles were the last American gold coins intended for circulation by the United States Mint but were never legally issued for use.

That year, President Roosevelt removed the United States from the gold standard in an effort to lift America's battered economy out of the Great Depression.

All of the coins were ordered to be destroyed, apart from two which were given to the Smithsonian Institution.

However, in 1937, several of the coins appeared on the market, sparking a Secret Service investigation in 1944 that ruled that the coins had been stolen from the US government and were illegal to own.

Prior to the probe, one of the coins was purchased and mistakenly granted an export license, Sotheby's said in its notes.

It ended up in the coin collection of King Farouk of Egypt. When Sotheby's tried to auction the Double Eagle in 1954, the US Treasury successfully had it withdrawn.

The coin's whereabouts were then unknown until 1996 when it was seized during a Secret Service sting at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

A five-year legal tussle ensued and it was decided that the coin could be privately owned.

Other Double Eagles that have surfaced have been ruled property of the United States following cases that have even gone to the Supreme Court.

The coin bought Tuesday is therefore the only 1933 Double Eagle allowed to be legally sold.

In 2002, it established a new world auction record for any coin at the time when designer Stuart Weitzman bought it for $7.59 million.


© Agence France-Presse










Today's News

June 13, 2021

How a family transformed the look of European theater

Hauser & Wirth Zürich opens an exhibition of new and recent work by Guillermo Kuitca

Treasures of a Storied Manhattan Collection: Christie's Online Auction June 15- July 1

New display at The Fondation Beyeler explores the relationship between nature and culture in art

ARCOmadrid 2021 celebrates its return with a view to reactivating the art market

An onscreen chat with Hito Steyerl, art's great screen skeptic

Gottfried Böhm, master architect in concrete, dies at 101

Christie's and amfAR announce 'From the Studio: Part Two'

Lunds konsthall opens an exhibition devoted to the internationally renowned artist Runo Lagomarsino

US gold coin sells for record $18.87 mn at Sotheby's auction

The Frye Art Museum presents a new yearlong thematic presentation of the collection and archival materials

Galerie Nathalie Obadia presents a group of Roger-Edgar Gillet's figurative paintings from the early 1960s

Li Hongbo's third solo exhibition with Eli Klein Gallery opens in New York

Dix Noonan Webb to sell large collection of 19th century Sheffield tokens and badges

Hearing the city, too, at an outdoor Berlin film festival

Juilliard students protest tuition increase with marches and music

ConnectiveCollective on view through June 27 at the Neuberger Museum of Art

'Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art' premieres at the Toledo Museum of Art

Polaroid celebrates Pop artist Keith Haring with exclusive collaboration

Kate Frances Lingard's first solo exhibition opens at arebyte Gallery

Ernesto Neto returns to Italy with a brand new project

Designing Motherhood exhibition opens at the Mütter Museum

Wanrooij Gallery in Amsterdam opens a surreal solo exhibition of Dutch mixed media artist Leon Keer

The Stedelijk Museum exhibits the single-channel video installation SaF05 by Charlotte Prodger




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful