What is the rarest coin & most expensive coin in the world???

Let me know your opinion...
for me, the rarest coin ever is:
:hail:1849 Double Eagle:hail:
since its so unique that there is only
one specimen was recovered out of 2

what do you think is the rarest???

 

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And she is a "bute" too bad I have the second on J/K.

Honestly to me I wouldn't say rarest, but I would like to say my top dream coin is actually a set you would never want to depart.
Not really the best of condition but it sold for $750,000 Found by Art C Clarke I believe. Sri Lanka Treasure :0

 

Most people think the 1804 Silver Dollar, 1933 Double Eagle, or the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel would take the crown. That is true when it comes to rarity, I say 1804 Silver Dollar. But the most expensive coin was sold this year for a peak of $7,850,000, that's the 1794 Flowing Hair Dollar.

Here's a url:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/coin-249813-contursi-rare.html


Here's a url to a list of most expensive coins which you can see the coins I mentioned above are all in the list.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_coins

 

Rarest AND most expensive?

There are a number of unique coins and you don't get any more rare than that. (Unique means only one exists.) We had a thread here a year or two ago where there was a huge discussion about which coin is the rarest. Amazingly, even after a few example of unique coins were cited, some people still thought certain coins with 2 to 20 known examples were more rare.

An example of a unique coin is the 1870-S $3 in the Bass Collection (currently on display in the ANA Museum).

The most expensive coin is the only 1933 Double Eagle that is legal to own. It sold for $7.59 million. But there are at least 10 more known surviving examples of this coin (with many, many more thought to be hidden away until their legal status is determined).

So what coin is the rarest AND the most expensive. I don't know. You would have to determine how much weight to give to the number of known examples and the highest price paid. Take the 1913 Liberty Nickel - there are 5 examples of this coin and one sold earlier this year for $3,737,500. The coin sold for half the price of the '33 Double Eagle but there are less than half the number of known examples (5 vs 11).

So to answer your question, that is a tough question to answer.

 

1895 business strike Morgan. I would throw $10mil for that any day.

 

There are several unique specimens in existence. They tie for rarity. The demand determines which coin is the most valuable. Several of the more famous coin varieties are actually not unique, yet demand a significant premium. The 1804 SIlver Dollar (15) and the 1913 Liberty Nickel (5) jump out.

 

Unique, maybe, but it only cost $150 ...

There are many unique coins in the world. I have one. I found others of the type in catalogs, but none with the same reverse dies -- and, yes, we believe multiple hand-held driving dies, which is why the patterns differ.


Miletos c. 550 BCE electrum one-sixth stater 2.37 grams
attributions - BMC Ionia III.7; SNG Von Aulock 1796; Babelon 167,IV,33 also Tracte platez I-14 and I-20; Boston Weidnauer 130/129; Waggoner Rosen PO 221/2465; SNG Kayhan 442 --
again, all close, but not mine.

In Confessions of a Numismatic Fanatic, Frank S. Robinson tells of being a boy and his coin buddies were excited about the recent sale of a Brasher Doubloon. Robinson was nonplussed. Having taken an interest in Chinese coins and ancients, he had several that were unique and therefore as rare as (the Lima) or rarer than the other three.

Also Mint figures were problematic because of the difference between the Calendar year and the Fiscal year. Walter Breen sorted much of it out, but much remains uncertain. The 1854-S Half Eagle is another Million Dollar Coin, though supposedly 268 were struck. In comparison, the 1841-O Half Eagle is recorded at 50, but none is known.
You can go through the Red Book and find others.

The 1849 Double Eagle is considered a Pattern and there are other unique patterns known. See U.S. Patterns, the website of the collectors club.

What price coins bring at auction is the result of many factors. Without demand, supply is irrelevant to price. Demand is created by books and articles.

 

wow I so didnt know that....btw thanks coinguy56 for the link..
really?? 1794 is the most expensive...
I guess the 1849 specimen that's in the Smithsonian
is considered "unique"....since there's not another like it yet..

 

so the 1849 double eagle would go under U.S. patterns?

 

Oh man, mine would be a $4 Stella.

 

Flowing Hair or Coiled Hair Stella??

 

I agree with the 1913 Liberty Head being the rarest. There's a few other coins out there that command very high prices such as the 1894-S Barber Dime with only 9 known but 24 struck. And another I know of that many do not pay attention to is the 1873 CC No Arrows Seated Dime. While it hasn't broken the Million dollar barrier, there are still 2 known to exist.

Here's a url to this scarce dime:

http://www.coinlink.com/CoinGuide/featured/1873-cc-no-arrows-dime/

 

That 1849 coin I saw an has and estimate of 10 to 20 million dollars if sold at auction!

 

Yeah. My info must be a bit outdated.

That's the same 1794 Flowing Hair Dollar that used to be on display in the ANA Museum. It was purported to be the "first" silver dollar struck by the US Mint (or at least the earliest surviving example) based on the die state. It was pretty cool to be able to stroll into the ANA Museum and in one visit see the 1794 Flowing Hair Dollar, the unique 1870-S $3 and three 1913 Liberty Nickels. How many million dollars do those five coins represent?

 

There are five 1913 Liberty nickels. There is only one 1870-S $3. In my book the 1870-S is more rare than the 1913 Liberty nickel.

 

Yeah 5 of the 1913 Liberty Heads and never knew about the 1870-S $3. With so many rare and expensive coins out there, its a little hard to judge between rarity and price. Like the 1913 Liberty Head of any, there might be 5 known, but that doesn't make it the most expensive. But I will go with you on the 1870-S $3. With only one known, it may as well be rarer than the 1913 Liberty Head.


Edited:

Just googled the 1870-S $3. According to Wiki, it is valued at $4,000,000 in AU-50.
I agree that its rarer, but the Eliasberg specimen 1913 Liberty Head was purchased by a collector for $5,000,000. I'm not saying that it is valued at $5 Mill, just throwing it out there that it sold for over $4 Mill. But with only one specimen known for the 1870-S $3, I agree it might sell for over $5 Mill, easy in a serious auction.

 

It gets confusing when we mix "rarest" and "most expensive".

 

Yeah, I may have made a mistake. Sorry

 

And of course, price depends solely upon demand, etc.

There are a number of unique UK coins:

1952 halfcrown
1952 shilling (Scottish)
1954 penny
1808 Soho penny

and some very famous rareties

1933 penny (7 known)
1908C sovereign (636)
1916C sovereign (max 20)
1934 Wreath Crown (932)
1937 Edward VIII threepences (a couple of dozen, maybe)
Any other Edward VIII coin

Now, an example of the 1933 penny was auctioned a few years back, and I think it went for £40,000 or something (about $65,000). That is for pretty much the most famous UK rarety - but if it had been a US coin, I would think it would have sold for 6 figures, maybe even seven. The 1934 Wreath crown (I have one) is retailing for £4,000 ($6,500) in Unc -- no doubt a similar-sized US coin with larger mintage (CC Morgan dollar, for example) in Unc will sell for many many times that. So, it all depends on market.

That being said, I'd love a 1933 penny!

Of the above, I do have the 1908C sovereign and 1934 Wreath, as well as a Fine example of the Irish 1943 halfcrown (about 500 known). I love them all!