Rare 1700s Pattern Coins Sold for $30 Million

Photo: Heritage Auction Galleries

An anonymous (and very rich) collector just ponied up $30 million to buy 1,000 rare prototype or pattern coins c. 1700 that never went to production:

This experimental coin from 1792 was intended as a possible design for a dime, which was spelled disme back then. At the time, putting the face of a national leader on a coin seemed too similar to the European practice of displaying kings, which was an unpopular idea in a country less than a decade removed from the Revolutionary War.

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