Rare coin that Ohio dairy farmer left to his family sells for six figures at auction
An extremely rare dime whose location has been unknown since the late 1970s has sold for just over $500,000 at auction.
An extremely rare dime whose location has been unknown since the late 1970s has sold for just over $500,000 at auction.
Three sisters hailing from an Ohio dairy farm inherited the coin after the death of their brother, who opted to lock it away in a bank vault for more than 40 years.
The coin is so valuable because it has an imperfection.
It was created by the US Mint in San Francisco in 1975 and depicts Franklin D. Roosevelt, but this dime is just one of the two known to exist that doesnt have the distinctive S mint mark above the engraved year.
The 10 cent piece sold for $506,250 in an online auction that wrapped up on Sunday, according to Ian Russell, president of GreatCollections, an auction house based in Irvine, California.
The only other known example of a 1975 dime without the trademark S was sold at a 2019 auction for $456,000 and then again to a private collector months later.
The imperfect dime, left, is the one that sold for $500,000 at auction. The dime on the right is what nearly all the coins look like. It has the S above the date of mint
The mint in San Francisco made more than 2.8 million special uncirculated proof sets in 1975 that featured six coins and were sold for $7. Collectors a few years later discovered that two dimes from the set were missing the mint mark.
Russell said the sisters from Ohio wanted to stay anonymous, but told him that they inherited the coin after their brother and mother bought it for $18,200 in 1978.
That would be roughly $90,000 in todays money.
The parents, who operated a dairy farm, saw the coin as a financial safety net.
Adjusted for inflation, the coins value appreciated by approximately 455 percent in the more than 40 years it was in the family.
The 50th home run ball belted out of the park this year by All-Star MLB player Shohei Ohtani was worth $500,000, the same as the imperfect dime, when bidding on it began on September 27.
The ball has since sold for an astounding $4.39 million after a dizzying 40 bids.