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REPORT: Rare American Gold Coin Sells For Nearly $10 Million At Auction, Setting Record

(Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)

Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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A rare, gold coin from the 18th century has sold at auction in Dallas for a record $9.36 million, which the auctioneer says is the most ever paid for such an item, the Associated Press reported. 

The 1787 New York-style Brasher Doubloon was purchased as part of an auction of U.S. coins by an anonymous buyer. Heritage Auctions said the sale set a record for most paid for a gold coin at auction, calling the coin the “holy grail,” according to the AP.

“The Brasher Doubloons, for coin collectors, coin connoisseurs, this is sort of a holy grail … the one piece that is the most famous and the most desired coin,” Todd Imhof, Heritage Auctions’ executive vice president, said, according to the AP.(RELATED: Winston Churchill Painting Showing The British Leader’s Favorite Alcoholic Morning Beverage Sells For $1.3 Million)

The coin came from the collection of the late New York businessman Donald G. Partrick, whose holdings included some of the rarest American coins, including “ultra-rare and unique colonials, early coppers, and memorable early pattern coins.” Partrick purchased the Brasher Doubloon in 1979 for $725,000.

According to Heritage Auctions, each time the coin was sold publicly, it broke previous world records for any coin ever sold at auction. It was initially sold in 1907, and then in 1979.

“The New York-style Brasher Doubloon is probably the world’s most famous numismatic rarity,” Heritage Auctions’ Co-Chairman Jim Halperin said in August. “It held the record as the world’s most valuable coin for well over a decade after selling at the November 1979 Garrett Collection auction for the then-astonishing price of $725,000. Of course, today, that seems like an incredible bargain.”

Imhof said that only seven of the coins exist, but the one sold in Dallas is of the “finest quality.” Ephraim Brasher, a goldsmith and silversmith, made the Brasher Doubloons, which some say were the country’s first private gold coins, according to the Professional Coin Grading Service. The U.S. Mint didn’t begin releasing coins until 1793, so prior to that, coins were from private or foreign ministers, the AP reported.