1822 half eagle coin worth $5M to be auctioned in Las Vegas
A rare half eagle coin minted nearly 200 years ago will be auctioned in Las Vegas next month.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries says it believes the coin is worth $5 million or more.
There are only three known specimens of the 1822 half eagle, and the coin is the finest of the three, according to a news release by the gallery conducting the auction March 25 at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino.
There have been only two occasions in American numismatic history in which an 1822 half eagle has sold at auction, one in 1906 and another in 1982.
Didn’t sell in 2016 auction
Stack’s Bowers is going to try its luck again in offering the coin. According to Coin World, it went unsold at its last offering, at Stack’s Bowers and Sotheby’s May 24, 2016, where it failed to meet its reserve. Bidding stopped at $6.4 million. It is the sole collectible example of just three known, with two others in the Smithsonian collection. At that same auction, the finest-known 1804 Draped Bust dollar also failed to sell, passing at $9.2 million.
“Today, the 1822 half eagle stands at the peak of American rarities in private hands — with just one coin available,” the gallery stated. “Opportunities to acquire an example happen only very seldom, and generations pass without even the most well-financed collectors, dealers, and museums having an opportunity to own one.”
For more information visit StacksBowers.com or call 800-458-4646.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.