Written by Simret Aklilu for CNN
A rare 1794 silver dollar believed to be one of the first — if not the first — to be struck by the US Mint is going up for sale.
Dubbed the “Flowing Hair” dollar, the coin features a portrait of Lady Liberty on one side and an eagle on the other.
The last time it was up for auction, in 2013, it sold for $10 million — surpassing the world record for the most ever paid for a rare coin.
“This is a dream coin — a priceless artifact that I have been proud to own, and I’m very sorry to see it go,” Bruce Morelan, who owns the rare 1794 silver dollar, told CNN.
Morelan, a collector who is putting an assortment of historic coins valued at about $20 million up for auction alongside the silver dollar, added that, “It’s time to move on to other challenges and I hope that the new owner of the coin treasures it just as much as I have.”
History behind the coin
Over 200 years ago when the United States was a fledgling nation eager to cement its independence, Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1792, which established the country’s first national mint.
The US Mint, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States, was established in Philadelphia. It was housed in the first federal building erected under the Constitution.
“The Constitution had specified that the dollar was going to be the cornerstone of the US monetary system,” Douglas Mudd, the curator and director of the American Numismatic Association’s Money Museum, told CNN.
After assembling the equipment and preparing the coin dies, the Philadelphia Mint started production of the silver dollar in October 1794, when 1,758 coins sporting the Flowing Hair design were struck in one day, according to the National Museum of American History. Read more from CNN.
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