1787 U.S. Gold Coin Sets $9.36 Million World Record in Heritage January 2021 Sale

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"The World’s Most Famous Coin" is now "The World’s Most Valuable Gold Coin" after it sold for a record $9,360,000 at a public auction of important U.S. coins held by Heritage Auctions, Jan. 21, 2021, in Dallas, Texas. The 1787 gold coin is the finest of the mere seven specimens known to exist.

1787 DBLN New York-Style Brasher Doubloon realized 9.36m
This 1787 New York-Style Brasher Doubloon, W-5840, graded NGC MS65★, set a $9.36 million world record in Heritage’s January 2021 U.S. Coins Auction. (Image by NGC Photo Visions — learn more at NGCcoin.com.)

Bidding by phone with the successful bidder, from the moment the lot opened, was Heritage Auctions’ President Greg Rohan.

The doubloon is the finest example of its kind and Thursday’s sale marked just the third time the coin has been auctioned since 1848. Officially titled the 1787 New York-Style Brasher Doubloon, W-5840, NGC MS65★, it is known throughout numismatics and beyond as "The World’s Most Famous Coin."

Greg Rohan
Greg Rohan, President of Heritage Auctions, casts a bid on behalf of new owner of the world’s most valuable gold coin, the finest 1787 Brasher Doubloon. (Photo courtesy Heritage Auctions, HA.com.)

Brasher Doubloons have been popularized in detective novels and motion pictures, such as The High Window, by Raymond Chandler, and the feature film The Brasher Doubloon (20th Century Fox, 1946). To the average American citizen, the Brasher Doubloon is the archetype of a rare and valuable coin and enjoys a lofty status in pop culture that is unapproached by any other coin.

This example displays terrific eye appeal, the technical quality is the finest available and the historic importance of this issue is profound.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the previous auction record for a gold coin was $7.59 million for a 1933 $20 Double Eagle, which was sold in 2002 in New York.

Heritage Auctions (HA.com) is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.

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Jake

Lame to me. I bet its given away one day.