Bidders fail to reach minimums for two rare U.S. coins at auction

A bid of $10,575,000, the most ever offered for a coin, was place by phone for an 1804 Draped Bust Silver Dollar, but it failed to reach the consignor’s reserve price, Sotheby's auction house said in a statement.

A phone bid of $7,285,000 was placed on an extremely rare 1822 half eagle, but it also failed to reach the consignor’s reserve price, Sotheby's said.

The pieces were highlights of the fourth coin auction series of the D. Brent Pogue Collection, which is working in collaboration with the auction house and Stack's Bowers Galleries.

Some 61 coins from the Pogue Collection, which in recent years has become the most valuable auction series in history, were sold for more than $16.7 million during the auction at Sotheby's headquarters in New York.

The collection focused on non-machine manufactured currency made from 1793 to the 1830s, said David Tripp, Sotheby's worldwide senior numismatic consultant.

"All the coins in the Pogue collection were struck and produced in these early years when things were really handmade and so there are all sorts of peculiarities," Tripp told Reuters TV.

The 1804 Silver Dollar, originally owned by the Sultan of Muscat in 1835 and then by the Childs Family Collection for more than 50 years, was purchased by D. Brent Pogue in 1999 for $4 million.

One of the five most valuable coins in the world, the silver dollar features blue and gold tones and a portrait of America's Lady Liberty staring skyward, with stars bordering the coin's edges.

It is in such good condition that it has been given a Proof-68 grade by the Professional Coin Grading Service. That is one of the highest standards on the PCGS grading scale.

The Pogue Collection acquired the 1822 Half Eagle coin in 1982 from the Eliasberg Collection. Before that, the coin was unobtainable for decades.

Tuesday's auction marked only the second time in over a century that collectors have a chance to compete for the rare amber-colored coin, which also features Lady Liberty, this time donning a cape with "LIBERTY" printed on its side.

(reuters.com)