Actually I might venture that it would be the 1849 $20 Double Eagle, there are believed to be one or two in existence. The other coins, there are now 11 known 1933 $20, and 13 or so 1804 $1 coins known.
I would think the Brasher Doubloon would be pretty close in there. Aren't there maybe only six to eight of them known?
How about this one Coenwulf, King of Mercia (796-821) Gold Penny, London Mint I believe it is the 1st of its kind :bow: De Orc
There's a definitional problem here. The Brasher's were technically tokens, not coins, as they were privately issued as a replacement for money. It can't get any rarer than that. Since the question wasn't limited to US coinage, there are, of course, a number of world coins that are tied for "rarest". If patterns are included, there are undoubtedly dozens. :rolling:
I believe I read somwhere that there were a number of CSA confederate coins that were minted or at least a few test pieces are known to have been made..they must be somewhere but none known,they couldn't have ALL been melted down or destroyed...hehe..that's pretty rare. Anyone more familiar with the details?
Four original coins were struck. One was given to a professor (J.L. Riddell) of the University of Lousiana, one to the chief coiner, one to Jefferson Davis, and one to a Dr. E Ames of New Orleans. 500 Restrikes were made, but not nearly as rare.
To include another on the list, the 1913 V-Nickel is very rare with (if memory serves) 5 in existance.
Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but one I've always admired is the '1839 Una and the Lion, £5' Maybe not the rarest but one I crave more than anything else. Bone
At least one is known to exist, owned by a private European collector as of 1993. It is one of two that were owned by the director of the mint at the time; the other was given as a gift to then president Lyndon B. Johnson. (It is not known what became of that one.) They were ordered melted, but only after some mint employees had purchased some, as regualtions at the time allowed them to do, at a limit of 2 each. These were ordered returned, and most did, however it is not legally tested whether the mint has the legal right to order coins returned that were both legally produced and legally sold. Also, it was not tracked how many were purchased and how many were returned. It is possible that some that were purchased by mint employees may still be in their possesion (or their heirs' possesion). Whether they have the legal right to own those coins is a matter of debate... a case could be made that they do, since they were legally produced, and they legally purchased them BEFORE the order to melt those in mint possesion came through. Quite possibly any owners of these coins, if there is in fact any owners of them, are hiding them away not wanting to test the legality of owning them until enough time passes that the mint longer cares to press the issue. However considering how they try to seize 1933 $20 gold pieces, that may be a long time. However that's not quite the same precedent, since they were never legally owned in the first place... any 1964 Peace dollars bought were at least legally owned at the time of the purchase. There's no precendent as to whehter or not the mint can decalre something legally owned no longer legal to own. Probably not, but I'm not sure if anyome wants to risk it in the court or not. So the mystery remains still... Would love to find these. If they in fact exist, they'd probably not be too far from where I live, lol...
There are several US coins that are unique, and a fair number of others with five or fewer known. When you branch out into Non-US there are a lot more.
Well can't get any rarer than unique, lol... the next step past that is non-existant. There are quite a few US coins that tie this, with only one known example to exist.
