Record $990,000 Paid for 1804 Coin

One of the most prized coins known to collectors was sold at auction Friday to a Los Angeles collector for a record $990,000, the highest amount ever bid for a coin.

Hugh Sconyers of the American Rare Coin Fund in Los Angeles purchased an 1804 silver dollar at a Chicago auction, paying $900,000 for the coin plus a $90,000 auction fee.

“It’s perhaps one of the most famous coins in all of numismatics, and our fund feels that it represents a good long-term value,” Sconyers said after the purchase, describing it as a “cut-and-dried business decision.”

The coin was one of only 15 of its type struck by the U.S. mint for use by ambassadors as gifts to foreign governments. Seven of the 1804 dollars are in museums, and individual collectors hold the remaining eight.

The coin was sold by Leon Hendrickson, owner of a Winchester, Ind., coin shop.

Hendrickson acquired the so-called “Dexter” specimen of the 1804 dollar nearly four years ago, paying $500,000 for it. The dollar was once owned by Denver banker James V. Dexter, who acquired the coin for $1,000 in 1885 and counterstamped a tiny D on the reverse.

The previous auction record price for a U.S. coin was $625,000, paid in 1982 for an 1870s $5 gold piece.