Rare coin issued after the California Gold Rush sold at auction for $1.4 million

LOS ANGELES — Avid coin collectors jumped at the chance to get their hands on a rare $20 “double eagle” gold coin at a Southern California auction house Tuesday afternoon, but only one walked away victorious after paying a hefty price.

The gold piece — minted in Carson City, Nevada, in 1870 — sold for $1.44 million including the buyer’s premium, a fee paid to the Stack’s Bowers Galleries. Only 3,789 of them were produced and an estimated 40 to 50 remain, according to John Kraljevich, who specializes in coin history at the auction house.

The auction house did not give any information about who bought the coin.

Prior to 1849, the highest denomination for a gold coin was $10, known as the eagle. The $20 double eagle was authorized after the California Gold Rush brought an abundance of gold supply, Kraljevich said.

The last time this specific coin was sold was at a Stack’s auction in 1986 for $23,100.

“This thing was totally off everybody’s radar,” Kraljevich said. “When this thing appeared kind of out of the woodwork after being off the market for 25 years, 30 years, it was almost like a new discovery.”

By the time the live auction reached the coin, the bid price had already reached $800,850, far outpacing the other coins in the catalogue. It was sold from the Bernard Richards collection and is the finest grade coin of its type known to exist, according to the industry standard Professional Coin Grading Service. However, it fell short of the auction’s prediction that it would break the $2 million barrier.

The second finest coin was sold in an auction for $1.62 million in November 2021. The price of collector’s coins went up substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people turned to investing in their hobbies, Kraljevich said.

The value of the gold itself, which in the coin is just under one ounce, is worth roughly $2,600.