An extremely rare $4 gold coin featuring the face of Lady Liberty is being auctioned off later this month in a sale that could fetch millions.
The auction house Bonhams is offering 27 valuable coins at a September 23 auction in Los Angeles, Calif. as part of a lot that could be worth $8 million, according to Yahoo! News. The crown jewel of the lot however is a $4 gold coin known as the Coiled Hair Stella, minted in 1880 and valued at up to $1.5 million.
Bonhams reports that this Coiled Hair Stella is tied for the finest known example of the gold coin and has been graded "perfectly preserved." It is also considered "exceptionally rare," according to the auction house, which notes that "the consensus of researchers is that no more than ten to fifteen were produced."
In an interview with Reuters, Paul Song, director of rare coins at Bonhams in Los Angeles, said the $4 coins were exceptionally beautiful, as well as valuable.
"I've never handled a collection that's worth potentially upwards of $6 million to $8 million total with only 27 lots," Song said. "That's an average lot value of almost $300,000 per coin. That may not be a Monet painting but in my world, that's pretty amazing. It's been a privilege to handle them, and they are gorgeous, just because they're gold, perfectly struck and the designs are really incredible."
In its description of the 1880 coin, Bonhams notes the exquisite craftmanship of a coin that also contains around six grams of pure gold:
The braided plait on top of Liberty's head is delicately and intricately engraved, and the portrait of Liberty is fully modeled and has a distinct individual personality. By contrast, the flowing hair design presents a more distant, cool effigy of Liberty with her hair more heavily engraved, both aspects of which are more in keeping with Barber's
The coins are available for public viewing from September 20 to 22.
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