Gold Rush coin sells for £140,000 at auction

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Gold Rush coin sells for £140,000 at auction

Associated Press in Beverly Hills
Tuesday September 20, 2005
The Guardian


A rare Gold Rush-era coin owned by a descendant of Chinese immigrants who worked in the California gold fields has sold for $253,000 (about £140,000) at a Beverly Hills auction. The coin is one of only 12 Quarter Eagles known to still exist from the 246 made at the San Francisco mint in 1854. The Quarter Eagle contains an eighth of an ounce of California gold. The anonymous seller's great-grandfather got it between 1856 and 1858, according to auctioneers the American Numismatic Rarities of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. It was sold to an anonymous collector.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1573956,00.html